George Russell admits he still has weaknesses he must improve on if he is to stay ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes teammate battle. The 24-year-old has enjoyed a fine start to his first year as Hamilton's teammate, despite the Silver Arrows struggling to deliver him race-winning machinery in the early stages of the campaign. Russell has ended each of the first six races inside the top five, standing on the podium in both Australia and Spain. Things are now looking up for Mercedes after Hamilton demonstrated pace to match the front-runners as he fought from last to fifth in Barcelona.
Mercedes now looking forward to upcoming races
Russell admits that Mercedes' most recent upgrades have put them "much more in the mix", offering them a newfound excitement ahead of upcoming races. "Now we know this is our baseline, we can really build off that and find a lot more performance," said Russell, speaking to members of the media, including RacingNews365.com . "I'm definitely confident. This has put us much more in the mix. We had our best result as a team [during qualifying] and we were always there in the top three, top four, generally all weekend. "I think we're excited to see what the coming races bring. But it's still gonna take a couple more races until we really find a lot more pace."
Russell says he has areas he must improve on
On a personal level, it may be expected that Russell would be delighted with his early-season performances. However, the youngster has pinpointed areas in which he must progress, particularly in comparison to Hamilton. "I just focus on myself and try and do the best job possible – and wherever that leaves me, I'll sort of review from there," he explained. "I believe in myself but I've still got a lot to improve. I don't feel like I'm truly optimising the package and, compared to Lewis, I've still got room to improve in a number of aspects." Commenting on the impressive points tally he has amassed thus far, he added: "It gives me excitement to see what I can deliver a little bit later on in the season."
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