From the moment George Russell stepped into Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes for the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix and almost drove it to victory, his Mercedes future became inevitable.
Finally, in 2022, Russell received his highly-anticipated promotion into the factory Mercedes seat alongside one of the greatest drivers of all time. Now he could finally fight at the front and be in contention for poles, wins and possibly even a championship title.
At least, that was how it was supposed to be.
Even Russell had to admit that he expected to have more success than he and Mercedes were able to achieve over the start of the 2022 season. The team’s W13 was radical, rigid but not rapid. And as Russell prepared for his first weekend as a full-time Mercedes driver, he and the team knew they would likely not be fighting for the win, for the first time in almost a decade.
After memorably drawing attention to his predecessor Valtteri Bottas qualifying ninth in a Mercedes at Imola in 2021 after the pair collided during that race, Russell started his new season by qualifying ninth in a Mercedes for the opening round of the year in Bahrain. Meanwhile, Bottas put his Alfa Romeo sixth.
But after a strong start, Russell moved up the order and ran behind Hamilton for most of the race, following him home in fourth after the two Red Bulls retired. Then the next weekend in Jeddah, Russell maximised his points by taking fifth place behind Red Bulls and Ferraris after being far ahead of Hamilton in both qualifying and the race.
With Mercedes scrambling to unlock performance from their stiff and sensitive new car, Russell did a commendable job of getting the most he could out of each weekend. Surprisingly, he even built up an impressive streak of beating Hamilton on Sundays – albeit with a little bit of luck along the way.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
As Formula 1 returned to Albert Park, Russell took advantage of a perfectly-timed Safety Car to pit and keep track position, jumping up to third place ahead of Hamilton before being passed by Sergio Perez. When Max Verstappen’s Red Bull broke down, he inherited third place back and stayed there to secure his first podium in Mercedes’ colours.
His race in Imola was deeply impressive. Starting 11th on the grid with Mercedes clearly struggling for pace relative to their rivals, Russell drove well and even overcame a pit stop equipment…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…