Russell: "I have to be patient, it took Schumacher five years to become champion too"

George Russell has joined the Brackley-based team from Williams for the 2022 season.

Unfortunately for him and the team, this period coincided with the beginning of the modern era of ground effect aerodynamics in Formula 1.

With this new generation of cars, Mercedes has fallen far short of its dominant form, which saw it win eight consecutive constructors' titles between 2014 and 2021. This was a far cry from Russell's expectations.

When asked if the long wait to get a championship-challenging car had made him even more motivated, Russell said: "Yeah, absolutely."

"I'm trying to perform with more hunger than ever."

"After seven seasons, I would hope to have at least one year where I compete for the championship."

"When I joined Mercedes, we thought we would be fighting for the championship every year. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case."

Russell emphasised that the same situation applies to Charles Leclerc at Ferrari and gave as an example: "It's the same for Charles."

"Two years ago, no one would have predicted that McLaren would take this step. Lando also raced with them for five years and couldn't fight for the championship either."

"So you have to accept that that's the nature of Formula 1. It's always been that way."

"If you look at Michael Schumacher, he won the championship with Ferrari in his fifth year, in his 30s. I'm 27, I still have some time left."