George Russell makes bold world champion declaration despite F1 'frustration'

George Russell remains confident he will "absolutely" become F1 world champion one day, although detailed the "frustration" drivers experience waiting for their moment of glory.

The Mercedes driver has endured a mixed campaign, due to the Brackley-based team's package having performed inconsistently. 

Mercedes' W16 has proven to be another difficult package to master, although Russell has delivered strong results on a number of occasions. 

He finds himself fourth in the drivers' standings and on six podiums from the 14 completed grands prix, including, a strong victory in the Canadian Grand Prix. 

Unfortunately, becoming world champion is off the cards for 2025, due to McLaren's superiority. Simply securing a second win this year is a major challenge in itself – only four drivers have won a race across the campaign so far. 

For many drivers every season, a podium nor a victory are claimed, with so much of F1 being about having the right car at the right time. 

Mercedes had been the dominant outfit for so many years in the pinnacle of motorsport, but has not battled for a title since Russell joined in 2022 when the current regulations were introduced.

Not being able to compete for titles and regular wins is frustrating for Russell, with him having compared the life of an F1 driver to a Premier League football club.

Discussing the need to be patient as an F1 driver, Russell explained on the Untapped podcast: "Yeah, I mean F1 is a frustrating sport, because you're the 20 best drivers in the world, yet in one season, you may only have four different drivers actually win a race, and maybe a maximum of two drivers fighting for the world championship. 

"So you've got 15/16 other drivers who don't even taste a victory. If you compare that to, let's take football, the team who finishes last in the Premier League in a year, they would still win one, two, three, four games in a season if you're the worst team in the league. 

"So they get that sense of success more times than the number five to number 20 best drivers in the world, if that makes sense."

Russell later added: "But in F1, it's just so few people get to experience it. But I still absolutely believe my time will come. I don't know when my time will come, but I'm making sure every single day I'm ready for that. 

"Whether it's next year, two years time, five years time, 10 years time, I'm making sure I'll be ready for it.