James Vowles from Mercedes has provided a detailed explanation of how George Russell managed the step up to the squad in 2022.
James Vowles, the head of strategy at Mercedes, has revealed specifics on how George Russell achieved the goals the team set for him after being promoted from Williams.
Russell, a Mercedes rookie, was assigned to Williams from 2019 to 2021 before team owner Toto Wolff chose to move him up to the senior squad in 2022 to race alongside Lewis Hamilton.
The biggest surprise of a difficult day for the eight-time champions was Russell’s first-ever Grand Prix victory in Brazil as he ended fourth in the rankings, two places ahead of Hamilton, who had his worst-ever result of sixth.
Despite this, Vowles has detailed precisely how the team was impressed by 2018 Formula 2 winner Russell.
Mercedes praise Russell’s accomplishments
In a Mercedes season recap video, Vowles said, “George did a very nice job this year, he is up against the best in the world and that’s your reference.
“What is very clear is that at the beginning of the year when we had a car that was difficult, Lewis was using his wealth of experience to help us in order to improve the car and really move us forward.
“In that period, George was just really focussed on learning, embedding himself into the team and he scored a number of results really that benefitted him as a result of that.
“Irrespective of his qualifying pace, his race pace was very, very strong throughout the year.
“That’s really what we were looking for: ‘How does he fit into our environment? How does he fit into the team? How does he work with Lewis? How does he work with everyone else?’
“In all of those he did an incredibly good job, it was a big step up for him from Williams.
“I think where Williams operated is obviously a very high level, but where we operate is a little bit different to that.
“He adapted very quickly and very well.”
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F1, F1 2022, Formula 1, Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, FIA, James Vowles, George Russell, Toto Wolff