World championship titles are George Russell’s clear goal declaring at the Mercedes AMG F1 car launch that he “wants to be the best”, Russell challenges team mate Lewis Hamilton that he needs to “fight back”, the youngster impressed with his veteran team mates energy “even at his age” in a seemingly cheeky statement.

George Russell is one of the positive surprises of the 2022 Formula 1 season. Although the British driver had already built up a good reputation through his performances at Williams, perhaps not everyone thought he would be able to beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton in his first Mercedes year.

Russell’s bad luck was that Mercedes didn’t hit the big time that year, otherwise he would certainly have had a good chance of winning the world title by beating the seven-time world champion in his own team. Only the course of the season will show whether he will have the chance in 2023.

“I want to win championships”

That, at least, is Russell’s big goal: “I want to be the best, I want to win world championships,” he makes unequivocally clear at the presentation of the new W14.

“And who better to have as a teammate than Lewis Hamilton? I’m very lucky to be here,” Russell says.

But he also knows that Hamilton will not take defeat lying down so easily. But even more important to Hamilton is the eighth title, which would take him past Michael Schumacher. And he’s giving it everything for that:

“I’m always impressed to see his motivation and energy – even at his age,” Russell says. “He still has the fire to get better.”