© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
George Russell attended the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix Thursday Drivers’ Press Conference. Here is the full transcript!
Q: George, can we start with you? Sorry to remind you, but it was an unfortunate end to your race in Canada. But let’s focus on the positives and just tell us were you pleasantly surprised by the pace of the car last time out?
George RUSSELL: Yeah, definitely. I think going from… That’s a nice replay you’ve got there, I appreciate that! Yeah, I think going from Barcelona, which was probably a circuit that suited us down to a tee, then to Canada, a totally opposite circuit, to see that we still had pretty good pace, fighting with the Aston’s and Max didn’t seem too far ahead, either, things are definitely going in the right direction. So this will be another interesting weekend. Sprint race, never straightforward, but I think, as a team, we’re making really good progress.
Q: Do you think the characteristics of the Red Bull Ring will suit your car better than Montréal?
GR: Yeah, I’d say so. I think it will suit us better than Montréal. I think Silverstone will be slightly a step in the right direction again, more similar to Barcelona. But as I said, you know, we’re developing really, really well, at the moment. The team back at Brackley and the team here, are doing an exceptional job to improve what we’ve got, and try and close that gap.
Q: Now, both Mercedes and Aston Martin look a little bit closer to Red Bull last time out. Is that the reality of the situation? Or are they still one, two, three steps ahead of you?
GR: I mean, it feels to a degree, that they’re coming a little bit closer to us. I think when you look at the average compared to the whole field, for whatever reason, it seems like Red Bull may have taken a small step back. But you know, when they’re three steps ahead, they’re now two steps ahead. So, they’ve still got a lot of margin. I was told recently, about half an hour ago, that they’ve won the last 17 out of 18 races, so they are cruising at the moment. They’re doing a really good job. But hopefully, it’s not too long until we can turn the tide.
Q: It was you who broke their run in Brazil last year, wasn’t it? Look, final one from me, George. Both you and Lewis had crashes in Q3 at this track last year. Just tell us a little bit about how difficult it is to set the car up for this racetrack?
GR: I mean, it’s got a combination of corners, being on the hill it’s always quite exposed to the wind, so you get these moments where it catches you out. But, you know, it’s the same for everybody. Last year wasn’t our finest Qualifying session. But we had a good race. And this year’s going to be a different dynamic again, with the weather that may be here throughout the weekend, with only the one practice session. I’m excited to get going.
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QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Silja Rulle – Bild) To all five drivers, who would you say are your top three drivers of the season so far, if you only count drivers’ performance and not the performance of the car? And maybe bad luck?
GR: I don’t know, to be honest. I think we’re all so focused on our job that obviously Max is the one doing the solid job week-in, week-out. He’s the number one at the moment. Number two and number three? No one else cares about. We’re all after number one, so yeah, that’s Max’s spot at the moment.
Q: George, I’m not convinced you’ve answered the question…
GR: I haven’t but… This sport’s incredibly difficult to judge and it’s… I think that’s the challenge of Formula 1. We’ve said it before. As drivers, we want to be in a position where we can go head to toe (sic) week-in, week-out with everyone on a level playing field. In an ideal world, all of the cars are the same and then we truly know. Max spent three years at Red Bull winning a couple of races here and there and now he’s winning 20 a year or whatever. It’s not because he’s suddenly got a second a lap faster over three years of driving; he’s just doing the job when the car’s giving him the opportunity. Many drivers are doing a good job. Fernando’s doing a good job, Lewis is doing a good job, Lando, Oscar’s doing a good job. Hulk, P2 last week, he’s doing a good job. Who knows? I hope that answers your question.
Q: (Matteo Beretta – F1inGenerale.com) In the previous session, Fernando says that it could be interesting going back to the single lap Qualifying due to the traffic in Qualifying, like in Canada it was a big problem. What are your thoughts about this hypothesis that Fernando made and how do you think the traffic problem in Qualifying could be improved?
GR: Yeah, same as Nico, I think Qualifying’s pretty good as it is. Traffic is sometimes bad at certain tracks. I think the only suggestion we had in the past was to have like your GPS delta on the dash, so you’re not relying on your engineers because when you’re going slow the cars come at you so quick and we’re always relying on our engineers to tell us, so put it in our hands to manage and not somebody else’s.
Q: (Luke Slater – The Telegraph) George, last year you came here with a pretty quick car, ended badly in qualifying but you had a good race. Where do you think the strengths are this year: different car compared to last year on this track, strengths and weaknesses?
GR: Yeah, I think we’ve made a lot of changes to the car since then. It’ll probably be a good baseline to look back compared to last year as obviously the circuits we’ve been at recently, bar Barcelona, have been pretty unique circuits. Yeah, I’d like to think we’d be in a slightly better place. We’ve definitely made improvements with how the car handles through the corner, making improvements with the overall downforce which we know we’ve still got gains to be made. But I see no reason why we can’t have a strong race on Sunday. We know that qualifying is not our strength but if we get things right, there’s no reason we can’t fight for a podium.
Q: (Daniel Majer – Rallycafe.Hu) Max, Nico and George: Stefano Domenicali recently said that the 2026 engines are going to be a bit louder than the current ones. What are your thoughts about that? I think that it’s important for the younger fans, because of the sound. Do you have any memories from your childhood when engine sound first struck you?
GR: Yeah, I think we’ll all welcome that. I think the perception of speed with sound sort of goes together. So it’s like in the UK, there used to be a car that was a Citroën Saxo and people used to put this massive exhaust on it and you’d hear it coming from miles away and you think it’d be a Ferrari, and it turned out to be this Saxo. But I think there’s something to be said that you want that noise, that buzz around the track. Yeah, I welcome it, definitely.
Q: (Adam Cooper – Motorsport.com) George, you guys have got a meeting with the FIA later today. Are you happy to have that chance to have a dedicated slot to have a chat with them? What are you hoping to get out of it? And what are the key issues that you’d like to see covered?
GR: I think the biggest thing is that there’s always a lot of question marks, regardless of whether it comes to race scenarios, penalties, no penalties, race start, people cutting the corners. My example, even, in Barcelona where I took the escape route, should that have been penalised or not? And I think it’s important, maybe twice or three times a year that we come together with the guys making the decisions so they hear our views and we also hear theirs. You obviously want this consistency and that’s what we’re trying to achieve.
Q: (Josh Suttill – The Race) George, you’ve not had many incidents in F1 but previously we’ve seen you write a letter of apology to Williams after a crash at Imola a few years ago. Was there anything like that after Montréal on Sunday? And also do you now feel that you’re better at dealing with those kind of moments and moving on from them?
GR: No, I think the emotions that… I spoke with obviously all of the engineers and mechanics and apologised for the off, but it was simple as that: move on, onto the next race. And yeah, definitely better at dealing with these emotions. I think, as a driver, you never want to make mistakes, you never want to fail or lose, but I think these moments make you stronger as a driver, as a human being, and you need those failures to progress. It’s history for me now, not even thinking about it, onto this weekend. Won’t be my last crash, for sure, it’s part and parcel of pushing the boundaries. Obviously, you want to limit it, but it’s just one of those things.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport-total.com) George, talking very fine margins there, but there’s a perception that in some of the earlier races of the season, you seem to have a little bit of an upper hand related to Lewis, whereas this seems to have changed, ever since the updates were introduced, again, very fine margins. First of all, do you have the same perception? And do you think there’s a connection with the update or is it just pure coincidence?
GR: I think it’s pure coincidence. I think it’s like he says, very fine margins. I think out of all the teams on the grid we’re statistically the closest of everybody in terms of team-mates. Lewis is obviously a very strong driver. Yeah, it’s funny. I think at the start of last year, I think Lewis was on a higher level than I was, yet I was well ahead of him in the championship. And now this year, I think we’re at a very close level, and the championships… I’m 40-odd points behind him. Ultimately, that’s the only thing that matters. We’re going into this weekend and we’ll see what we can do but certainly the last couple of races haven’t been the best run of form for me. But as I said, history now and let’s see what the upcoming races bring.
Source: FIA.com
