George Russell admits disappointment over lack of race victory challenges so far in 2022

Mercedes driver George Russell has admitted he was hoping to have challenged for race victories by now within the team but concedes they’ve done the best they could with the car so far.

Russell would have been naturally excited about joining Mercedes for the start of this year with them the reigning 8-time Constructors’ champions.

Indeed, the expectancy would have been that he would have had the chance to challenge for podiums and victories but, of course, the car has not been quick enough to get near P1, and podiums have only come through keeping the car on track rather than on raw pace – bar arguably at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Russell, though, has done a fine job despite the lack of wins this year with him the only man in the field to finish inside the top five in every race so far, and that kind of consistency shows that when the car is fully up to speed he could well be a force to be reckoned with.

He still admits, though, he’s disappointed about the lack of race wins thus far:

“I think if you told me prior to the season that we’d be seven races in and I wouldn’t have a victory to my name, I would have definitely been a bit disappointed with that. But I think given the pace of the car and given where we’ve been as a team, I’ve been reasonably pleased with how I’ve performed. I think the results have been maximised.

“I don’t see many races where we could have achieved better results, but we’ve definitely got room to improve. You are constantly striving for more when you understand the car more, the tyres more. And, you know, I want to fight for this championship.

“We’ve got to go against the likes of Max [Verstappen] at Red Bull and obviously Charles [Leclerc] is doing an extra extremely good job at the moment with