Vowles Praises Russell: “He is against the best in the world and that’s your reference”

James Vowles, the Head of Strategy at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, insists George Russell’s first season with the team was a successful one and the British racer did a ‘very good job’ after coming in to replace Valtteri Bottas alongside Lewis Hamilton.

Russell took his maiden victory in the São Paulo Grand Prix in November having already achieved his maiden pole position in Hungary, and he ended up fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, thirty-five points clear of his seven-time World Championship winning team-mate.

Vowles admitted to being impressed by Russell’s performances throughout the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, with the former Williams Racing driver showing speed alongside consistency all year long despite being in a new team and with a difficult car.

“I think, on the whole, it doesn’t really take us to tell you this, but George did a very good job this year,” Vowles is quoted as saying during a Mercedes-Benz debrief by PlanetF1.com.

“He is against the best in the world and that’s your reference. What is very clear is that, at the beginning of the year when we had a car that was difficult, Lewis was using his wealth of experience to help us in order to improve the car, and to really move us forward as part of the team.

“George, in that period of time, was just really focused on learning and embedding himself into the team. And he scored a number of results really that benefited him, as a result of that.

“Irrespective, his qualifying pace, I think is within zero [percent] of where Lewis ended up. His race pace was very, very strong throughout the year.”

Vowles admitted that there were concerns about how Russell would fit into the Mercedes environment, but the British driver quickly dispelled those concerns and showed just how much of a team player he can be alongside Hamilton.

“That’s really what we’re looking for… how does he fit into our environment?” said Vowles.  “How does he fit into the team? How does he work with Lewis? How does he work with everyone else? In all of those, he did an incredibly good job.

“It was a big step up from him from Williams. I think, where Williams operate is obviously very high level, where we operate is a little bit different to that. But I think he adapted very quickly and very well.”