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George Russell has been told that his next step is challenging his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton on a more consistent basis ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Russell has struggled to match the seven-time world champion this season, having initially impressed when he moved to the Silver Arrows from Williams in 2022.
Russell currently sits eighth in the Drivers’ Championship, 70 points behind Hamilton in third, as questions have been raised over his performances this campaign. He will feel that he should be competing at the top of the grid more regularly, but has not claimed a podium finish since the Spanish GP in June.
Former McLaren driver Mark Blundell has challenged Russell to perform alongside Hamilton more often as he admitted that he is “concerned” that the Brit will not be able to take the leap forwards and become an elite driver capable of competing for championships.
”George is interesting as I haven’t quite seen the next step in progress. He puts a lap together and he can do an incredibly quick one, but he’s still not quite taken it to Lewis. We’ve seen Lewis come back and be the stronger part of the equation, and that’s down to his experience and depth. I don’t know.
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“I think the next step is there for George, but I’m not sure he has the confidence to take it on, and I’m concerned it’ll never be seen next season. I think he needs to step up and he has to take it to Lewis and make sure he’s second in line all the time! That’s the only way George’s stock can go up.”
Russell is confident after his DNF at the Brazilian GP that he and Mercedes will not “fall into that same trap” in Las Vegas, with the 25-year-old confident of bouncing back. “We definitely have some answers, and we’ve got a number of things that we can put down to our poor performance,” Russell said.
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“But this is the nature of a Sprint race weekend. If you get it right, you’re on a good course and you’re in for a successful weekend, but if you get it wrong, you’ve got no opportunity to make amends.
“We were kind of trapped within our mistake, so that was a gruelling weekend. It shows how sensitive everything is, but we’re confident we’re not going to fall into that same trap, especially this weekend.”
Russell and Hamilton have regularly bemoaned their W14 car throughout the season but Russell will be aware that he should be performing to the same level as his team-mate, something that Blundell highlighted.
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