After stating McLaren and Ferrari had the advantage in Barcelona, George Russell believes he is uninterested in any Mercedes mind games ahead of the 2022 Formula One season
Despite informing reporters that his timesheet-topping Mercedes car is behind Ferrari and McLaren in development, George Russell insists he is not playing mind games ahead of the 2022 Formula One season.
Since the three-day testing in Barcelona, Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren have all talked down the pace of their own cars.
McLaren and its driver, Lando Norris, claim they still have work to do in order to challenge at the front, while Ferrari, which proved to be both quick and dependable at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, says their test was all about miles.
When questioned how Mercedes compare to their opponents, Russell said “a red team and an orange team” were looking “extremely fast,” adding that last season’s Constructors’ champions were “definitely not ahead” in the race to produce the fastest package for this month’s season opening in Bahrain.
Following his comments, rival Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in Barcelona, prompting speculation over whether the eight-time winners were employing their young driver to begin the 2022 mind games soon.
Russell rules out Mercedes mind games
Russell, on the other hand, claims he is not playing mind games and is entirely focused on the task at hand as he prepares for his first season in what could be a race-winning car.
“I can’t be bothered with mind games, it’s too much effort. No, there are no mind games,” said Russell, speaking to select members of the media including RacingNews365.com.
“We’re just working on our own programme and, to be honest, it is absolutely unrepresentative what we’ve seen during testing.
“You know who is probably in the top half, and you know who’s in the bottom half, but when it comes to qualifying you’ve got tenths of a second splits between [teams], which is the equivalent of five kilos worth of fuel. So yeah, [it’s] totally unrepresentative.
He added: “Things will probably look very different with the development by the time we get to Bahrain. Maybe Lando is playing mind games, but we’re not!”
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