Drought over...but the hard part’s still ahead for Russell

There was a palpable sense of relief from George Russell when he jumped out of his car to celebrate victory in the Austrian Grand Prix, but there was an air of pragmatism about the Briton, too.

Russell entered the season as the favorite for the world championship, and duly backed that up with a strong display in Australia, winning from pole position. However, as Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli got up to speed following a disjointed pre-season, that turned out to be Russell’s high point. Until now.

“It feels like a long time ago, to be honest,” Russell admitted after taking his second win of the year at the Red Bull Ring. “It’s been a tough couple of months with some really tricky races, with races that felt like everything was going against me, then some races with some tough performances.

“Obviously, I’ve got a really incredible teammate next to me who week in, week out is delivering some pretty spectacular performances. So, for me, going into Canada, going into Barcelona from quite a low point, I needed a lot of resilience to be able to get back and deliver some strong performances.

“So, to get the last two poles, to get the win here this weekend – especially on a track which I don’t think is so suited to me – I’m really, really proud.”

Climbing the top step is always exhilarating, but for Russell it was especially so this time. Pauline Ballet/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Where the pragmatism kicks in, is when Russell reflects on the wider picture beyond his results. It’s something he has tried to do when analyzing how he had fallen so far adrift of Antonelli in the standings, but he already accepts that one victory doesn’t solve all of his problems.

At 28, he’s primed for a title attempt, but also mature enough to admit he still isn’t sure why he is sometimes so competitive, and at others struggling much more.

“I have a lot of confidence in myself, knowing I can do it. I have less confidence in being able to get everything aligned with the car, the setup and the tires, because it’s just been so up and down for me," he conceded. "Even this weekend, at points I was six tenths behind Kimi, and then come Q3 I was two tenths ahead. And I don’t honestly have a major answer for that.

“But those times where I managed to deliver the pole laps, the car and the tires have felt more akin to last year, when I could deliver those performances every lap throughout a weekend. So, I’ll be working hard with my team to try and emulate that.

“The team have done a really incredible job to sort of put some real answers down why the performances were not good. Monaco and Montreal were two really tough races for me, and I didn’t leave either of them looking at the data thinking, ‘Where is the issue?’ It was clear what the problem was, and it was clear how we could maybe solve that.

“And when we perhaps looked through some historical data, there were some trends of this, and it’s all just been exacerbated with this new car. So, coming into this race weekend, I think maybe my previous approach, it would have really hurt me on a track like this. I drove the race very different and quite abnormally, to be honest, to manage the tires, and it worked quite well. So, I need to get this further understanding.

“Last year, we were eight years into that, or four years into those tires that we were running with, and I think I really knew in my locker how to handle the tires at hot tracks, cold tracks, smooth surface, rough surfaces. And this year, I don’t, to be honest. So, I’m rebuilding that. But the team’s done a great job to sort of steer me in the right direction.”

Russell had the Ferraris as well as his teammate covered this time, but their collective ups and downs demonstrate the challenges of the current ruleset. Guenther Iby/SEPA.Media/Getty Images

Speaking of rebuilding has echoes of the driver that Russell used to share a Mercedes garage with, as Lewis Hamilton has emerged as a factor in the title race. Russell admits he’s looked at the struggles someone of Hamilton’s caliber has faced at times and taken strength from the fact that even a seven-time world champion doesn’t have all of the answers all of the time, particularly when Antonelli appeared to be delivering pace much more consistently at every circuit.

“Every lap [Antonelli] does, he’s in the top two of the leaderboard. That was me at the start of the year, and it hasn’t been recently," he noted. "Barcelona was a real breeze for me because it was just clicking every single lap. But here it was a real fight. But getting that pole position, getting the win today, I know I am capable of doing it and I always believed that in the years gone by.

“But as I said, this year I never doubted my ability, I just doubted maybe the process, and I needed to get on top of that.

“And I’ve just seen it so clearly, looking at how Lewis has bounced back this year, looking at [Charles] Leclerc – who’s one of the best qualifiers on the grid – how he struggled so much this year…

“We haven’t just forgotten how to drive or relearn how to drive. It’s just us understanding and getting on top of the package. And I definitely feel every lap, every race I’m doing, I’m making some really good gains in that regard.”

The timing couldn’t be better for Russell as he heads into his home race now 40 points adrift of Antonelli, buoyed by a result that he had to fight for in Austria. But with Max Verstappen and Antonelli within two seconds of the race winner at the flag, Russell knows he will continually have a battle on his hands from multiple threats, including his own consistency.

Continue to find improvements on that latter point, and there could be a special weekend at Silverstone awaiting him.