George Russell has revealed the mental adjustments he madebefore beginning the 2022 season with Mercedes, as he came to terms with havingLewis Hamilton as a teammate. After three years learning his trade towards the rear of the F1grid with Williams, Russell made a long-expected move to the Silver Arrows for 2022, replacingValtteri Bottas. Despite an unfamiliarity with the sharp end of the field, Russellwas a revelation in 2022, outscoring seven-time World Champion teammate Hamiltonand taking his first Grand Prix win in Brazil on his way to fourth place in theDrivers' Championship standings. After comprehensively outperforming his Williams teammates ineach of previous F1 seasons, Russell had expected a tougher fight alongside Hamiltonin 2022, and said he had recalibrated his expectations in anticipation of beingdefeated by his teammate. "I didn't worry, but I did have to sort of have a sitdown withmyself," Russell told The Race . "I was sort ofused to a certain level of outscoring [past teammates], or whatever you wantto call it, but if it's 55/45 in my favour, even if I lose 45 per cent of thetime, that's going to still be incredibly successful against Lewis. "Sopsychologically, you need to set yourself up for small failures. I'm not goingto beat him every single session, every qualifying, every race. That's justabsolutely not going to happen. "But having ayear like we've had this year, is almost equivalent to maybe what the 95/5split was for me previously. "I never doubtedmyself. I always believed in myself. But if you go with the mindset 'I'm goingto beat Lewis Hamilton 95 per cent of the time', you're going to come awaydisappointed."
Russell ready to fight for the title
With Mercedes having won all but one available title from 2014 to 2021, Russell might have expected to be fighting for the championship in 2022. However, F1's new technical regulations for 2022 seemed to catch the Silver Arrows out, with the W13 suffering badly with porpoising and bouncing in the early part of the season, and relegated to scrapping for podium finishes as Red Bull and Ferrari instead duelled for victories. Russell's Brazil win was Mercedes' only victory of 2022, but the Briton says he is mentally prepared and experienced enough to challenge for the title if given the machinery to do so. "Every race I go to, I fight to do the best job possible, whether that is fighting for a victory as we were in Brazil, or fighting for last place as we were at Williams," said Russell. "If we do get to the first race next year, and we realise we've got a car that's capable of winning, I'm still going to be approaching it exactly the same. "I think I've got enough experience now that I feel ready to fight for a championship and be able to handle the challenges and difficulties that come with it. "Obviously, the likes of Lewis and Max [Verstappen] have more experience in that scenario. But if you go out and you put it on pole and win every race, you'll be World Champion."
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