George Russell places his complete Components 1 2024 defeat of former Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying all the way down to being “psychologically in a very good place”.
The 26-year-old ended the 2024 season with a 24-6 qualifying file towards Hamilton, with all classes together with people who set the grid for dash occasions considered.
This compares with their 8-12 and 15-13 information from 2022 (when there have been simply three sprints total and just one qualifying session on every such weekend, therefore the decrease whole) and 2023.
Hamilton typically struggled to keep up promising observe type throughout his remaining Mercedes marketing campaign with the troublesome W15, the place Russell additionally led him within the factors standings and every completed the season with two wins apiece.
This is able to have been a 3-1 cut up in Russell’s favour however for his Spa on-the-road victory being misplaced for his automotive/driver post-race weight whole coming in 1.5kg underneath the minimal allowed in F1’s guidelines.
When requested by Autosport why he feels he was so good at qualifying in comparison with Hamilton on the latest 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, Russell replied: “I simply really feel actually assured throughout the automotive, assured inside myself.
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15
Picture by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photographs
“I really feel psychologically I am in a very good place, particularly in the case of these high-pressure eventualities to get probably the most out of myself.
“I am not gonna examine towards my team-mate, however simply by way of my very own private efficiency, I really feel [I’m] driving higher than ever.”
Russell additionally mentioned he felt even higher in himself in comparison with the beginning of 2024, when it turned clear he can be set to guide Mercedes as Hamilton determined to affix Ferrari for 2025.
“Each driver is able to doing nice laps and nice performances, however when the stress’s up and it comes all the way down to that one lap in Q3 – that is the place it comes all the way down to your headspace, actually,” Russell mentioned of how his psychological feeling had impacted his 2024 outcomes.
“And I really feel like I’ve discovered rather a lot about myself and the way to get probably the most out of myself. And for everybody it is totally different. However I simply know in myself what works for me.”
Learn Additionally:
On this article
Alex Kalinauckas
Components 1
Lewis Hamilton
George Russell
Mercedes
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