He mentioned his immense respect for Hamilton, and also stated how it helped him improve during his time in the Formula 2 series as well. He feels that gaining experience is important, which he could not do while he was with Williams, but the seven-time world champion helped him in ‘making up’ for the same.
He told GPFans:
He added:
While Mercedes had close to a terrible season in 2022, it was still an uplift for the young George Russell, who was racing for the first time as their permanent driver. For someone who had spent his previous time in Formula 1 battling in the relatively uncompetitive Williams, even the slow-paced Mercedes was fast enough.
All in all, the time he spent behind the Williams steering wheel only helped him get acquainted with the so-called ‘undrivable’ W13.
This made George Russell perform much better than Hamilton, who had been driving championship-winning cars for the past eight years. Russell ended the season giving Mercedes their only victory in Brazil, and though he finished above his fellow Briton teammate in the standings, he feels that Hamilton taught him a lot during the time.
George Russell’s Williams experience might have helped him in 2022
Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin believes in George Russell. Since the W13 suffered from a lot of aerodynamical issues such as porpoising, it was extremely difficult for Lewis Hamilton. However, since Russell came from driving an already uncompetitive car, even a poor-performing Mercedes was enough for him. Shovlin said:
Heading into the 2023 season, the team is expecting a much better performance and has high hopes for the W14. Finishing third in the 2022 season wasn’t too bad for them after all, since they will be having more time in the wind tunnel, which will assist them in perfecting the aerodynamics of their 2023 challenger.
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