Among the major innovations on the starting grid at the beginning of 2022, the most interesting and full of expectations focused on the passage of George Russell from Williams to Mercedes, with the English driver called to replace Valtteri Bottas in the reigning world champion team. The 24-year-old, fresh from three consecutive seasons in the Grove team, has collected five podiums and a pole position in the first half of this world championship, to which is added the surprising 2nd place obtained in 2021 in Belgium at the wheel of Williams.
Today, Russell enjoys a more competitive car than those previously driven, moreover in a three-year period characterized by various difficulties suffered by the British team; in addition to death of its founder Sir Frank Williamswhich took place in 2021, the team lived – and still lives today – on the edge of the world rankings, even with the sale of the team in 2020 to Dorilton Capital. In the same year, moreover, the team he did not win any world championship points, for the first time in its history. An adverse parenthesis therefore to the former junior Mercedes driver, however able to convince the Anglo-German house to be promoted to the official team as a new teammate of Lewis Hamilton.
Now that the Williams chapter is in his past, Russell wanted to highlight a few differences note between Grove’s and Brackley’s, explaining them within the podcast Beyond the Grid: “The Williams spirit was immense – He admitted – everyone worked with passion, but during my time it was going through a complex period. 2019 was not a good year, and in 2020 it was even one of survival. When the pandemic hit, the team had to do everything possible to stay afloat without going bankrupt. Obviously now, thanks to the sale of the company and its acquisition, the team is really growing, but it takes time to perfect everything ”.
Now that Russell is in a position to win, the Briton commented on his leap in quality from another historic team like Williams: “At Mercedes they have been very successful – he added – Toto Wolff has been at the helm for a long time e culture is rooted in everyone. I knew of the excellence of the team and everyone’s talent, but since I joined them I have been reminded of the level at which they operate. It was really inspiring for me to see 2000 people doing everything they can to create fast racing cars. Their priority is to run, and they just want to win. It’s a really special thing ”.
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