When George Russell joined Mercedes in 2022, he had been waiting three hard years for his chance to show that he could compete for world titles in a top team. He left an immediate impact.
Russell outperformed his seven-time world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton at the first try, winning the first grand prix of the season and the team’s sole victory in Brazil, despite Mercedes virtually being eliminated from the title race from the first test of the previous campaign.
Mercedes was expected to turn the corner and resume their status as consistent race winners in the 2023 season. However, not only did that not come to pass, Russell also
Russell seemed to carry over his enthusiasm from the end of 2022 into the new season, as seen by what may have been his
best run of the year in the first few rounds. Although he started the Bahrain race five seconds and two places behind Hamilton, he had outqualified the latter. However, Russell made a really good impression in Saudi Arabia. He was originally elevated onto the podium in third after fighting hard to stay within five seconds of Fernando Alonso in the final laps on old tyres. He qualified fourth, which became third following Leclerc’s penalty. Russell was upset to learn that Alonso’s penalty was overturned, but it did not detract from his otherwise strong performance.
Russell, who seemed to be very confident coming from Jeddah, performed brilliantly in Melbourne. He pushed his way past the world champion at the beginning of the race and was only a tenth of a second behind Max Verstappen for pole position. He pitted for hard tires when the Safety Car was activated, seemingly putting himself in a very strong position, only to have the race red-flagged, negating whatever advantage he had. His power unit failed shortly after the race resumed, thus he was never able to battle back. He should have been challenging Verstappen for the victory, but in the end, he was left with nothing in Australia.
That Miami weekend was another impressive one for him. With a strong start and several overtakes during the race, he went from starting in sixth place to fourth, which was the best result he could have hoped for behind two Red Bulls and Alonso. After converting a dismal qualifying position into third place to support his teammate in Mercedes’ best performance of the early season, he finally secured his first podium of the year in Barcelona.
However, Russell experienced a downturn in the middle of the season. It was the most embarrassing moment of his Mercedes career to that point when he crashed out of a three-way race for second place in the Canadian Grand Prix due to a weird error. Russell was then in between the British and Dutch rounds.
He experienced another embarrassing moment when he crashed with Hamilton at the first corner of the grand prix in Qatar, where he had qualified on the front row the previous time. This incident eliminated his teammate from the race and dropped him to the back of the pack. To finish off a fantastic three days, Hamilton appropriately took full responsibility for the collision, and Russell battled his way back up the order in the intensely hot weather to secure fourth place with a strong comeback.
However, he took another hit toward the end of the season. Russell appeared haggard at the Circuit of the Americas. During the Saturday sprint sessions, he received many penalties and dropped multiple positions.
Russell had not defeated Hamilton to the finish line since Monza when he entered the Abu Dhabi final race, where Mercedes was trying to stave off a late charge from Ferrari in the constructors’ championship. However, he had one of his best weekends in Yas Marina, and for the last time this season, he proved to be the superior Mercedes driver, taking third position to secure second place for Mercedes and only his second podium of the year.
Russell was defeated by Hamilton in practically every single category, despite managing to rescue a late draw against Hamilton in the qualifying match that weekend. It was noteworthy how Russell appeared to make more mistakes in his second year at Mercedes than in his first, even though it is not disheartening to lose to the most successful driver of all time. However, when he performed at his peak, he demonstrated that Mercedes has one of the best driver combinations on the grid.
