When George Russell signed for Mercedes ahead of the 2022 season, he no doubt would have expected to spend a season or two behind the legendary Lewis Hamilton before taking the reins.
Impressively however, the 24-year-old was almost an ever present in the top five last season, despite battling with a majorly uncompetitive W13 for the majority of the season.
Russell’s ability to get the best out of a struggling car meant that he picked up Mercedes only win of the season in Brazil and even outscored his teammate.
The new Mercedes driver finished in fourth place, two places ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the first winless season of his career.
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With Russell clearly showing that he has the ability to beat Hamilton on a regular basis, he has sent the 38-year-old a warning ahead of the 2023 season.
“I definitely feel ready to fight for world championship,” he told GPFans.
“I don’t look back on any races with regret because ultimately, we did an incredibly good job just to be able to fight for these positions. The fact is victory was always a little bit out of sight because we just [didn’t] have the performance.”
The Brit has admitted that his relationship with Hamilton could change, should the pair become embroiled in a title battle, similar to the previous situation between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
“I mean, if you are fighting for one-twos there will be a slightly different dynamic and that’s only natural. But I think the thing we have going for us is the fact that we are at very different stages of our career,” said Russell.
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With the W14 set to be unveiled next month, the world waits to see whether Mercedes have learned enough from last season’s struggles to produces a title contending car once again in 2023.
The team have expressed their confidence in using 2022 as a learning curve, not being shy to admit that they misunderstood certain elements of the new regulations, resulting in their porpoising struggles especially.
At 38 years of age, Lewis Hamilton will not be happy to sit behind his teammate next season rather than win a record breaking eighth world title, meaning that the situation could become frosty at Mercedes should a title battle break out within the team.