George Russell states his battle with Max Verstappen ‘brought back memories of F2 and F3’


George Russell states his battle with Max Verstappen ‘brought back memories of F2 and F3’

In the first qualifying session, George Russell complained on the radio about Max Verstappen's driving.

George Russell is having a really strong first season for the Mercedes Formula One team and the Brit has recently shed light on how 2022 has panned out for him, Russell has also said that his battle with Max Verstappen brought back memories of his F2 and F3 days.

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George Russell is driving a competitive car this year as compared to last year’s Williams and believes that his W13 has got an advantage at the start of the race over the others.

While stressing about it Russell has said, “I feel much more confident.”

After a couple of races, it sort of brought me back to my junior career days and karting days and things just felt a bit more natural. Whereas in my first three years of F1, I kind of felt like I was being taken for a ride many times on those opening laps.

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The 23-year-old is enjoying his life with the Brackley-based F1 team and while appreciating his legendary teammate Lewis Hamilton, Russell said, “As a team, we’ve done a pretty good job at race starts,”

George Russell
George Russell

“I think Lewis historically has always been one of the best starters, in the sense of the launches. And since I’ve been here this year, we’ve been statistically one and two over the course of the season. That’s a real benefit and positive we’ve got to take away.

Also Read: “We must continue to push,” Williams set to ‘fight hard’ during second leg of 2022

George Russell sees huge differences between Williams and Mercedes

George Russell
George Russell

George Russell drove for the Williams F1 team for three years during which he was stuck at the back end of the grid. He had a pretty tough stint with the Wantage-based team and while talking about it said, “At Williams, we had a very fast qualifying car, But the true pace of the car was a little bit further down.

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Mercedes has not won a race during the 2022 Formula One season but on the back of Russell and Hamilton, has managed to show decent form during the closing stages of the first leg.

In the last few races before the summer break, the Silver Arrows were able to go wheel to wheel with Red Bull and Ferrari and while dwelling over the predicament, Russell said, “Barcelona was probably the first time this year for me where I had a real on-track battle.

 “And that was obviously with Max [Verstappen]. It just brought me back to when I was racing F2 and F3, and that just felt natural.

Max Verstappen and George Russell at the Spanish GP
Max Verstappen and George Russell

George Russell has been quite pleased with the form that the team has shown in the closing stages of the first leg and moreover, believes that his edge-of-the-seat battle with Max Verstappen brought back memories of his F2 and F3 races.

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This season’s one-off tussle between the two was fun to watch and considering that Mercedes has made a step up, fans can expect Russell and Verstappen to again go at each other’s throats during the remaining 9 races of the season.

Mercedes has got a point to prove and George Russell and Lewis Hamilton are going to do everything in their power to challenge the lights of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

The second leg is shaping up to be a feisty affair and it will be interesting to see how the prolific drivers are going to go about doing their business in the final stretch of the 2022 F1 season.

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