'Never pushed harder': Russell seeks positives from miserable F1 season

“And perhaps that’s been a small reason for contributing to a couple more mistakes. But, I think you look back on seasons like this and you grow. I’m thankful it’s not a season where we’re fighting for a championship victory. And I’m confident next season will be very different. Because I know the sort of driver who I am.

“I know one year like this is not going to take away from all of my other consistent seasons, championship-winning seasons. I know it won’t take a lot to find myself in that good rhythm once again.”

Prior to Abu Dhabi, Russell’s only other podium came when he finished third — behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton — in Spain. There were so many missed opportunities, with a badly-timed safety car and then power unit failure in Melbourne costing him a shot at a win, and the wrong strategic calls in Zandvoort turning a big chance into an eventual 17th after contact with Norris.

Perhaps most frustrating was Qatar, when Hamilton clipped Russell’s front left trying to take the lead at Turn 1, leading to a spin for the junior Brit that limited his final result to fourth. The car was clearly quick, but like on so many occasions, circumstances intervened.

Williams was a learning curve but this feels like the first year that Russell’s momentum has arguably stalled if viewed from the outside, but the 25-year-old is confident a reset over the winter is all he needs, even if he’s unsure whether he’ll be allowed to spend the break taking his mind off F1 in the way he wants.

“I still need to ask Toto’s permission, but I really want to ski. I’m not too sure if I’m going to be given that permission or not. But I’ve always said I’m always sensible when it comes to sport outside of racing, because I get my adrenaline rush from racing.

“So I don’t need to go down a ski slope flat out or even when I’m training on my bike, I put a 55km/h limit on it, because I’d be in Lanzarote, I’d be head down going down a massive hill going 85km/h and I just thought, ‘this is just stupid’. The adrenaline rush was massive, but I don’t need that, because I get it 25 weekends a year. And the risk was too great.

“So I think I know my boundaries. There’s always going to be danger in everything. I could wrap myself in bubble wrap but fall down the stairs and break a leg. I just want to do something that you’ve got to put fun focus into that activity.

“Being with friends is so important. Even [in Abu Dhabi], I was playing volleyball with Danny Ric. We don’t play volleyball, but we were just having such a laugh, messing around on the beach, playing some volleyball. Even travelling over with Pierre [Gasly], we had a great laugh for the whole flight, going to the dinner and playing cards.

“I think it was really important to help you get over any race weekend, even if you have a successful one, because you have so many emotions and it’s such a fallback to reality regardless if you’re standing on the top step or you had a disaster.

And Russell views it as a sign of him growing up that he knows his limits and can step back to view the bigger picture, both in terms of activities he might want to do away from F1 but also how he assesses the way this year has panned out.

“You learn where your priorities lie”

“I think as I’ve grown and matured, you learn what you need and what you don’t need and where your priorities lie. Even speeding on the roads, I used to speed a lot when I was younger, my parents used to live in the countryside and I was totally within my limit but well beyond the speed limit.

“I just think to myself ‘It’s just not necessary’. If I get stopped, I might lose my licence, I might lose my whatever. That stress is not worth the rush that I got from that.

“I’ve got probably the best job in the world with what I do and how stupid would it be to waste it on something like that or crashing my bike getting a slipstream off a bus down a hill in Lanzarote to try and break 100km/h? I think that just comes with age.”

What’s particularly interesting about Russell’s perspective is that he had such a calm outlook on the past season even before ending it on a relative high with his Yas Marina podium. Perhaps he would have been more impatient in the past, but that maturity he speaks of also crosses over to the realities of F1, and knowing how many peers he has facing similar situations to him.

“We’re all here to fight for victory, we’re all here to fight for championships,” he said. “And that’s not just the 2,000 people that work for Mercedes this is the thousands of people who work at Ferrari, McLaren and everybody else that works down this grid – they are fighting for victory. And this is the sad reality of Formula 1 – only one team can get it right.

“I’m not too bitter – my time will come”

“And, often, when you do get it right, you get it very right and it’s very difficult to turn the tide and chase back up. So, of course I wanted to achieve a lot more this season. It’s been… regardless of the being victory-less, there’s probably been seven or eight podiums I could’ve had this year… and I’m disappointed with myself in that there’s been a few on my shoulders.

“But I think when you’re on the back foot, everything often goes against you. But when the car is flying, everything goes for you. So, clearly we need to work on one thing. I look at the positives. I’m 25 years old, I feel like I’ve got a good at least 15 years left in me – when I look at Fernando [Alonso]. And when I look at Max [Verstappen], I think he was in his seventh year before he fought for a title.

“So, we need to bide our time, as frustrating as it is. But you’ve got great drivers like Charles [Leclerc] in the exact same position, Lando in the exact same position. And this was Max four or five years ago in 2020 and prior. So, I’m not too bitter about it.

“Of course I would love my fortunes to be different, but my time will come.”