George Russell comes to F1 title realisation after early Mercedes defeats

George Russell has highlighted the critical areas he needs to improve going forward as he targets a maiden F1 drivers' championship.

The Briton won the opening round of the season in Australia before team-mate Kimi Antonelli won back-to-back in China and Japan, moving to the head of the standings.

While Mercedes has enjoyed dominant pace at the front of the field, one major weakness it has run into is poor race starts, and it is yet to lead a race at the first corner despite a trio of pole positions.

Russell asserted it is a shortcoming that he knows he must address in the coming rounds.

“I have things that I also need to improve around the race start, because that's clearly a very important factor,” Russell told media including RacingNews365. 

“I have things I need to improve around the Safety Car restart.

“I made some procedural errors that led to me being overtaken by Lewis in Japan and then the problem later in the race with Leclerc. So, if I iron out these things, we're in a very different situation.”

The F1 season will resume this weekend in Miami, where 12 months ago, rookie Antonelli enjoyed one of his finest events of the year.

When asked if he is worried about Miami being next on the schedule due to Antonelli's performance last year, Russell replied: “Not at all.

“That was his strongest track last year, but I had 20-plus other tracks that were very strong for me.

“A championship is won over the whole season, and as long as I maximise my points by the end of the season, what happens race by race, no one remembers.

“That is my goal. That is what I'm confident in achieving over the course of the championship. 

“Consistency, good results on the bad days, victory on the good days, and that is going to continue to be my goal every single weekend.

“So, as I said, I'm not thinking about Kimi, I'm not thinking about the championship. I'm focused on myself.”