George Russell heads into the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone full of confidence following his victory in Austria. The Mercedes driver is eager to harness the energy of his home crowd and build on the progress he and the team have made over the past few weeks.
Russell: “Silverstone is always a special moment”
The Mercedes driver arrives at his home race with renewed confidence and the belief that both he and the team have found a much stronger direction in terms of car development and his driving approach.
“I feel great. I’m always excited to be here at Silverstone every year—it’s such a special occasion. This event just keeps getting bigger and better every season. Seeing how many people are here is incredible. Someone told me there will be almost 600,000 fans this weekend, which is crazy, so I’m really looking forward to it.”
Russell went on to explain that his understanding of the W17 has steadily improved throughout the season, allowing him to unlock greater consistency and confidence behind the wheel.
“The race plan is always to be as fast as possible. I have 100 percent confidence in myself, but I’m still building confidence in how to get the car into its sweet spot. Last year, if you had asked me before a session how confident I was that the car would be in a good window and that I could produce the perfect lap, my confidence would have been much higher because I understood both the car and the tyres much better than I do this year.
“That understanding is improving with every race, though. Historically, Austria has been a difficult circuit for me. It was hot, the track had very little grip, and those are usually the conditions I dislike the most. My performance wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t exceptional, but it was significantly better than it would have been if that race had taken place three or four Grands Prix earlier. I’m therefore very pleased with the progress we’ve made together as a team to put both the car and the setup in a much better operating window.”
Austria victory provides fresh momentum
The British driver also explained why his victory at the Austrian Grand Prix represented a major step forward for both himself and Mercedes.
“Over the last two weeks I think I’ve learned a huge amount about what I need from the car. It was fantastic to understand exactly what suits me, how I might need to adapt my driving style, put those changes into practice and then win the race at the very first attempt with this new approach.
“That was really satisfying. Normally Austria, with its low grip, high temperatures and heavy rear tyre degradation, isn’t the type of circuit or conditions I enjoy the most. Winning there was extremely positive, it represented a real step forward, and now I feel like I can start building on that progress.”
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