George Russell said he feels like “returning home” at Mercedes after being away racing with Williams for the last three seasons in Formula One. Moreover, what surely has not changed is the relationship and respect he has towards his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

“My working relationship with Lewis over the last three years hasn’t been as close as it was when I was a Mercedes’ junior driver and I was used to seeing him work week in and week out.

“Yet it always amazes me how someone as talented and as successful as Lewis continues to strive for more. That is incredibly inspiring and motivational for me, as a young driver, to try and reach the same heights as Lewis has achieved.

“I think it is a great opportunity for me to be his teammate and see how he goes about his business. I think we have a good relationship between the two of us and we will work closely together to push the team forward.

“We have always had a good relationship but I think what will help is just to be open with one another. We need to prioritize the car and the team; this will inevitably help us as well.”

Ahead of the first runs on the track with the new W13, Russell has been asked whether he thinks he will have the chance to challenge Lewis from the outset and fight for a world championship.

“This is something I didn’t even think about, to be honest.”

The British driver went on saying that several people have asked him what he will be doing differently now that he’ll have the chance to fight for a championship. Yet the young talent said that “he will change nothing”, as he was “already doing his absolute best” and that is what has gotten him to be a Mercedes driver.

“I think it is important not to over-analyze things. I have in place a system that works for me and I feel like it is working and has actually gotten me to have the chance of driving for Mercedes,” Russell continued.

Then, he claimed that regardless of being in a top team, his main objective for the year will be that of helping the team.  

“My main goal is to make sure I have a team and the car around me and develop the car in the right direction to make sure we can fight over the course of the next couple of years.

“We have seen and heard rumors from other teams of how much they’re developing their own cars and you got to remember that with the changes in regulations we’ll all be starting from square zero.

“So Lewis and I need to work together. We cannot focus too much on fighting each other. We hope Mercedes will still be the fastest car on the grid but there is no guarantee and we need to not be naive."

Lastly, Russell was asked what he’d say to the 16-year-old boy that Mercedes signed back in the days.

“What I’d say to the younger version of myself is just to follow your gut.”

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have emailed Toto and I wouldn’t have done things as I did. As a kid, you need some serious nerves to do something as I did. The worst that could have happened was that I got no response so, it paid off.”