Russell has changed his mentality: 'Listened to Alonso in a podcast'

George Russell is losing out to teammate Lewis Hamilton in 2023. At Mercedes, the Briton is in a tricky situation with a car that is not fast enough for victories and a teammate who is a seven-time F1 champion. Russell explains how he is holding his own. Since the 2023 summer break, he has been feeling a lot better.

Mercedes has found the line up in 2023. Whereas at the start of the season the team was still apologising to fans for the poor car, the team now has a good chance of cashing in P2 in the constructors' championship. The W14 is not fast enough to beat Red Bull Racing. When Russell saw an opportunity in Singapore, he gave everything to get that win. It just didn't end well.

Mentality change for Russell

In the Beyond the Grid podcast, the Brit looks back at what happened: "[Norris] hit the wall and then I hit the wall. Whether I was distracted for a moment... You follow the car in front of you. You are so close to it. As a racing driver, you look in front of you and not left or right at the wall. I won't say I hit the wall because Lando hit the wall, but I was following him at that moment and hit the wall a lot harder."

Russell cited the moment again to explain how his mindset works and continued: "When I look at the performances this year I take confidence from that. I'm not going to let a two or three centimetres-mistake on one lap cloud what was an amazing weekend. Since returning from the summer break, the pace has been really, really strong. I sort of have given everything to win a race this season and that was a chance."

Alonso's words stuck with Russell

So what exactly has changed since Russell's summer break? The Mercedes driver listened to a podcast in which rival Fernando Alonso was a guest. What the Spaniard said there stuck with the Briton: "The mentality has changed from my side, the work with my engineers, what I focus on with the set-up of the car and what I don't focus on in the car. I'm just enjoying life a bit more."

Russell continued: "I listened to a podcast from Fernando, where he said that if he could change one thing in his career, he wish he enjoyed the moment more often when he was younger. That resonated with me. I am living my dream here. I am so dedicated and I feel like a true professional. I give everything, but sometimes you forget to enjoy it. Smile, just not constantly be that 120% serious guy, focusing on the smallest details. That does not mean I am less professional now, but I enjoy my life more [...] I am just in a much happier place."