Mercedes driver George Russell will be fully aware of the opportunity available to him this season.
After three seasons at Williams when they were regularly finishing bottom of the constructors’ championship and three years at Mercedes alongside seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, George Russell is finally the star driver at the Silver Arrows.
Russell scored more points than Hamilton last year, the first time the seven-time world champion has been beaten by a teammate since Nico Rosberg pipped him to the drivers’ championship in 2016.
It highlights just how quick Russell is but he’s never had a truly competitive car during his time at Mercedes.
It’s unknown whether that’s going to change in 2025 with Toto Wolff’s team yet to unveil their new car.
Ferrari and McLaren have already shown off their latest creations, but Mercedes and Red Bull will wait until the last moment to give the world a glimpse of their final cars in this era of the sport.
Russell will be looking at every driver that finished ahead of him last season and wondering if he will have the chance to properly challenge them in 2025.
Max Verstappen and Russell may continue their feud that erupted at the end of last season, although neither driver wanted to escalate the situation during the recent F1 75 livery launch event.
All eyes will instead be on what happens when they take to the track together at the Australian Grand Prix.
George Russell wouldn’t want to pay for Charles Leclerc’s tyres due to his driving style
Russell was speaking to Chris Evans on Virgin Radio and was asked which of his rival’s tyres he wouldn’t want to be paying for on a regular basis and replied: “Good question!
“Whose tyres wouldn’t I want to be paying for? I’ve got to be honest…
“Leclerc’s pretty aggressive driver in that regard, you know. He’s often very quick in street tracks.
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend
“He always pushes the limit a lot, so you see him in Monaco, in Singapore, always performing pretty well.
“But then at other tracks, it hurts you a little bit more.
“When you’ve got 24 races, the environment’s totally different week in, week out, so sometimes it favours you, sometimes it doesn’t.”
It’s very interesting that Russell identified Charles Leclerc when asked about who is the harshest on their tyres.
Leclerc is regularly considered F1’s best qualifier which highlights how well he can turn on the tyres over one lap.
However, his performance at Monza last year when he expertly looked after his tyres to win the race ahead of both McLaren drivers shows that he’s capable of being conservative when he needs to be.
Why George Russell was surprised by Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari
Russell would have known at the start of 2024 that he had a chance of beating Hamilton at Mercedes given his level of improvement over recent years.
However, Russell admitted that he was surprised when Hamilton announced his Ferrari move, and probably wouldn’t have expected to be the team leader at Mercedes at this point in his career.
He’ll be joined by Andrea Kimi Antonelli this year who is incredibly well thought of but doesn’t have experience on his side.
READ MORE: Mercedes driver George Russell’s life outside F1 from net worth to height
Wolff will be expecting Russell to help guide Antonelli through his first year in Formula 1, but if the Italian lives up to his potential, then Russell will know he has to be wary of his ability.
Antonelli will be keen to prove people wrong who believe he’s been promoted into F1 too early after a very streamlined junior career.
Russell has expectations he needs to meet as well but they will ultimately be determined by how fast Mercedes’ 2025 car is.
Leave feedback about this