Mercedes-Benz

GEORGE RUSSELL is ready to take the fight to Max Verstappen this season.The Brit won his first Grand Prix last year in Brazil as he finished fourth in the drivers’ championship behind champ Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.
Mercedes’ George Russell is up to take on Red Bull superstar Max VerstappenCredit: PA
However, after coming to terms with racing for a top team — and beating his Mercedes team-mate, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton — Russell says his goal this season is to battle Verstappen for the title.
Speaking at the launch of this season’s predominantly black Formula One car, 25-year-old Russell was in a bullish mood.
He said: “I’m going into my fifth year of Formula One.
“I have had three difficult years at the back of the grid and I feel like last year was a good taste but I feel absolutely ready within myself and the team I’ve got around me to fight.
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“We want to put that fight against Max. I’m sure Ferrari are going to come out the blocks fast too, so we want to fight against those guys and go for it.
“This is why I had the dream of being an F 1 driver and what I’m working towards every single day, so we are going to be doing our best to achieve that.
“We need to see what the car feels like. I was happy with how we maximised last year, in terms of getting the most out of a difficult package.
“The great thing with this sport is it’s constantly evolving and it’s a new challenge every single year, because of the challenges you face, with the new tyres and the new car.
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“I definitely feel I still have room to improve and that fills me with confidence because I still felt like I was performing at a very high level ,even though I know that I’ve got a lot more in my pocket.
“I was on quite a steep learning curve but I feel like we’ve got a lot to come.”
Russell made a stunning start to his Mercedes career with nine consecutive top-five finishes, including three podiums.
But he admits he learned more from his poor races than he did his successful ones and that sometimes he was simply trying too hard.
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He added: “That was a big lesson I learned is that sometimes the harder you try, the more you push, sometimes the result isn’t better.
“You’ve got to be very disciplined with yourself sometimes in your approach for knowing how hard to push.”
Both Russell and Hamilton have got in some crucial running ahead of this week’s pre-season testing in Bahrain.
The pair took part in a tyre test for Pirelli in Spain at the start of this month and drove during a filming day at Silverstone this week, which was  limited to 60 miles.
Hamilton, 38, said: “I got in the car, I did 160 something laps in Jerez and I felt good.
“As always, after the first day of running the back of your neck is always a sore part.
“I’m sure, still, after the first days that we’re running, your body is still getting accustomed to the forces, as the car should hopefully be quicker this year.
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“It is always a much-anticipated moment for everyone at the factory that has been working so hard.
“I’m incredibly grateful for all the effort.”
Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell is confident ahead of next seasonCredit: AFP More

LEWIS HAMILTON will defy the FIA ban on drivers making political and personal statements.Hamilton launched the new Mercedes car for 2023 as he prepares for his 17th season in F1.
Lewis Hamilton will ignore the FIA’s ban on F1 stars making political statementsCredit: AP
He was quizzed on the FIA’s controversial decision to change the rulebook to allow them to punish drivers who make protests or statements without prior approval.
This week, Lando Norris called on the FIA to rethink the rules, claiming that F1 drivers are not school children, and Hamilton says it will NOT stop him from highlighting causes that are important to him.
He said: “It doesn’t surprise me. But nothing will stop me from speaking on the things that I’m passionate about, and on issues that there are.
“The sport does have a responsibility still to speak out, to create awareness on important topics, particularly as we travel to all these different places. So nothing changes for me.”
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When asked if he was willing to accept a penalty for ignoring the ban, he added: “It would be silly to say that I would want to get penalty points for speaking out on things.
“But I am still going to be speaking my mind. We still have this platform and there are still a lot of things we need to tackle.”
“The support from Stefano [Domenicali – F1 CEO] has been amazing. All of the drivers have been very much aligned on freedom of speech.”
Mercedes have unveiled an all-black race car for this season as the team has tried to keep weight at a minimum by leaving the carbon fibre unpainted.
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Hamilton was at the launch of Mercedes’ 2023 car which will be all in blackCredit: AFP
After a difficult season last year where Hamilton went winless for the first time in his F1 career, both he and Mercedes are hoping to be able to take the fight to Red Bull this season.
Hamilton again hinted that he would like to extend his contract with Mercedes, which expires at the end of the year, but says that having a competitive car is not a deal-breaker.
He added: “I don’t feel like I need them to prove to me. We’ve proved time and time again over the years that we have strength in depth.
“We still have all these incredibly talented individuals within the team, you don’t lose that ability.”
“There’s the best harmony within the team that I’ve seen in all these years, and we’ve got a really fresh young group of engineers.”
“So it’s an exciting time for the team and I don’t plan on being anywhere else.”
Hamilton was asked about the prospect of joining Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s bid to buy Manchester United.
The seven-time F1 champion was part of a consortium that failed in an attempt to buy Chelsea.
Ratcliffe’s company, INEOS is a one-third equal shareholder in the F1 team alongside Mercedes-Benz AG and Toto Wolff, but Hamilton says he has not had too much information on the attempt to buy United.

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He said: “I’m very close with Jim so I’m aware of where he is at and we talk a lot about football as he’s very passionate about it. We have great discussions about whatever his team is doing.
“We talk about how Arsenal is playing, obviously, he’s from Manchester so that’s his dream home, it’s where he’s come from, but there’s no further information I can give you on that.”
Meanwhile, Wolff said the black livery was poignant given Mercedes’ origins in motorsport.
He said: “When you look at where the story of the Silver Arrows came from, it is that the Mercedes was put on track and was painted white but it was overweight.
“They scratched off the paint and it ended up in aluminium and the car made the weight.”
“We really tried to get the weight off the car so we committed to [reducing] the grams by leaving the car in matte carbon.
“So history repeats itself, just in this case, it is modern materials like carbon and not aluminium. It just came together and it feels right.”
Meanwhile, George Russell says the team’s goal for this season is simply to win the championship.
George Russel in new Mercedes uniformCredit: PA
Russell, who turned 24 on the day of the launch, said: “Knowing how last season panned out and the challenges we had with the car, I think we can be pretty proud of the job we did.”
“There were a lot of positives to take away from that season. The reliability of the car was great. The strategy on many occasions was really, really strong.”
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“In the personal learnings we all went through and the technical learnings, that’s all gone into [this year’s] car.
“We’re all here to win. It’s as simple as that. The motivation and the fire within our factory is immense because people don’t want a repeat of what happened in 2022.” More

MERCEDES have launched their car for the upcoming 2023 season… with fans convinced that they’re “going to win it all”.The Silver Arrows endured a difficult campaign last time out, amid struggles with their W13 car.
Mercedes have launched their new W14 carCredit: Mercedes-Benz AG
The 2023 car sees a return to the striking black liveryCredit: Mercedes-Benz AG
The Silver Arrows will be desperate to get off to a better start than last seasonCredit: Mercedes-Benz AG
With optimism that they have resolved their problems in their latest W14 model, however, Lewis Hamilton fans are feeling positive about their man’s chances this year.
Speaking ahead of the car’s launch, team principal Toto Wolff said: “Last year was difficult but it came with lots of learnings.
“I hope 2023 will be proof that we have understood how to unravel the problems and improve the package of the car.”
He then continued: “W13 certainly had performance which we never were able to unlock and put all its downforce on the ground.
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“Our car performed very well at the end of the season.
“However, we still had the famous bouncing at some circuits and the car never gave the drivers good feedback, which limited them in being able to really push.
“We have tried to keep all the goodness of the W13 and address its weaknesses.”
The W14 sees Mercedes return to their striking black livery look – previously used during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
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Lewis Hamilton is ready for another crack at winning his eighth world titleCredit: Mercedes-Benz AG
George Russell won his first F1 race in Brazil last yearCredit: Mercedes-Benz AG
An emphasis has been placed on reducing the weight of the car – with the W14 boasting a lighter chassis, as well as a “refined aerodynamic concept”.
On his new car, Hamilton said: “I have been a part of this team for over a decade and the efforts of everyone never cease to amaze me.
“I find it inspiring how diligently and passionately each person approaches their work.”
Russell added: “I have been incredibly impressed with how the team developed the car throughout last season.
“We have been building momentum throughout 2022 and we’re excited to see how that has progressed over the winter.”
Upon seeing snaps of their new car, Mercedes fans were thrilled about their chances.
One wrote: “We’re winning it all.”
A second tweeted: “Black Mercedes livery is back, the Michael Schumacher championship record is actually going to be beaten.”
And a third gushed: “omg we are so back!”
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Quote-tweeting Mercedes’ announcement, F1 legend Damon Hill bizarrely added: “Warning: Contains Nude Photography.”
The new season gets underway in Bahrain on March 5, with Hamilton and Co looking to get off to a good start.
Toto Wolff is raring to goCredit: Mercedes-Benz AG
The W14 will receive its race debut in BahrainCredit: Mercedes-Benz AG More