George Russell will get his first shot with a top team in Formula One. The young British driver will join world champions Mercedes for the 2022 season to team up with Lewis Hamilton. Russell impressed everyone with his driving at Williams and was often called Mr. Saturday for his impressive qualifying performances.
Interestingly, Russell revealed he does not believe that a driver gets quicker over time. The former Williams driver mentioned a driver can only get consistent and improve on the technical side.
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I don’t believe a driver gets quicker: George Russell
As reported by Planetf1, the young ace revealed every driver is quick, but can still make mistakes. He mentioned that the pace of the driver has nothing to do with him making mistakes on turn one.
🗣️ George Russell: “I don’t believe a driver gets quicker, they do get better, more consistent."
[via GPFans]#F1 pic.twitter.com/8Zz5Csvjo8— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) January 30, 2022
“I don’t believe a driver gets quicker. They do get better, more consistent, and probably what has allowed me to do that is having a better understanding of the technical side,” said Russell.
” What does it take to get the tires in the right window to start a lap? How do you deal with your out laps to make sure you’re in the right position, not in too much traffic? If there is traffic, how do you deal with that? What do you need to do differently if a tire is too hot or too cold?
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If you go banzai into Turn 1 and the tires are slightly too cold, your lap’s gone. So [it is about] understanding these limitations. Then when you get into a race, that’s the really tricky bit, managing so many things at once,” said George.
Russell is correct in assessing the fact that going quicker doesn’t make you world champion but making fewer mistakes does. It would be interesting to see how quickly George Russell adapts to the Mercedes car. The quicker he adapts to the car, the more chances he will have of challenging Lewis Hamilton on the track.
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READ MORE: Is George Russell a pay driver?