Russell has Schumacher and Verstappen belief for future F1 title fight
George Russell has insisted he is "confident" of winning a future F1 World Championship, as he highlighted Michael Schumacher and Max Verstappen's early struggles.
The duo are widely regarded as two of the best drivers the sport has ever seen, with Verstappen set to win this year's title. But it took the Red Bull star four years to win the championship after joining the Austrian team, even as they are now in the midst of stunning dominance.
Schumacher meanwhile is synonymous with Ferrari, where he won five drivers' championships. But like Verstappen, it took the German four years to win the title after joining the Scuderia from Benetton in 1996.
Russell is taking heart from their careers after signing a new deal with Mercedes to take his stay with the German team until at least 2025. The Englishman has endured a difficult second year with the Silver Arrows but is confident he will eventually challenge Verstappen.
“You obviously dream of jumping in the car and just winning every single race, but it’s not like that for anybody. Even for Max – he spent three-and-a-half, four years at Red Bull before he got his chance of truly fighting for a championship," Russell told RaceFans.
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"And same as Schumacher when he went to Ferrari – it was, I think, four years before he won a championship with Ferrari. Whereas we all look at him as the guy who ‘was’ Ferrari dominance – won everything – it took four or five years before he got that success there.
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George Russell is confident he can win the F1 drivers' title in the future (Gongora/NurPhoto via Getty Images)“I’m very confident. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I’m very happy being a Mercedes driver. I feel almost like a duty to return their faith in me with loyalty, with delivering my best and ultimately delivering a championship with them. That is my dream and my goal.”
Russell finished fifth in the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, having started fourth, ahead of Red Bull No.2 driver Sergio Perez. The Mexican was able to overtake the Englishman though, with F1 now heading to Singapore, with Russell now seventh in the standings.
“Definitely, P5 was the maximum. Not satisfied with it but I would say it is a well-maximised weekend, considering our low downforce package that we know isn’t our strongest,” Russell added.
“We’ve outpaced McLaren and Aston Martin here, but unfortunately Ferrari were just a step ahead of us here, and then Red Bull out front. It was a tough race because the degradation was high.
"But the long pit-stop loss just means that a two-stop strategy isn’t really competitive. That means a lot of time in DRS, but it’s not easy to overtake with such small pace differences between cars. I’m looking forward to heading to Singapore next.
“We were competitive there last year, and I think that our car will be better suited to that circuit, so hopefully we can fight a bit closer to the front than we managed here. But as I said, P5 was the maximum we will take it.”
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