"Obviously, I want to beat my teammate" - George Russell claims his 2022 F1 season will be a success if he is 'standing at the top step of the podium’

George Russell claims his 2022 season will be a success if he wins a race this year. The Briton also acknowledged Lewis Hamilton as a potential rival and said outperforming him is one of the parameters of evaluating his performance.

Upon being asked about his season and how important beating Hamilton is, the Briton spoke to The Guardian saying:

“Obviously, I want to beat my teammate and I’m not going to take offence if he says the same. But I would not see my season as a success purely because I’ve finished ahead of him more times than he had finished ahead of me. I would see it as a success if I was standing at the top step of the podium.”

Acknowledging that his teammate Lewis Hamilton is also a rival, George Russell, however, believes finishing ahead of him might not be enough to call his 2022 season successful. The junior Mercedes driver rather feels winning a race will make his current season a success. The Briton also feels that despite having a cordial relationship with the seven-time world champion, they are rivals on the track. Currently, the two Mercedes drivers are only 18 points apart in the drivers’ championship with the world champion trailing the new Mercedes driver.

Speaking about teammate rivalries and internal team battles, the Mercedes driver said:

“I guess if you took an average look across F1 teammates, that is probably the case. There are a lot of people who get along in this paddock but overall, we are all fierce rivals. We are all here to be competitive and to try and win. You are in a battle.”

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George Russell believes adversities have helped Mercedes grow

As Mercedes battles through adversities in terms of their car design and performance woes, George Russell believes the team spirit has improved as a result of dealing with the complexities. The Briton also felt that winning is easier than navigating through challenges.

Although Russell expected a competitive weekend at his home race, the British GP, Zhou Guanyu's crash forced the Briton into being unable to continue in the race.

Commenting on the team's spirit through adversities, the Mercedes driver said:

“Winning is easy to a degree because everybody is happy and the team spirit is great. Suddenly when you are dealing with all of these issues you have to dig deep and as individuals, you learn a lot about yourself and about a group of people as well.”

With Mercedes' porpoising issues being better since Canada, their car seems to be finally developing in the right direction. With two consecutive podiums in three races, the team has managed to rebuild its confidence.