Mercedes praises Russell: 'He did an incredibly good job'

Mercedes has offered its first end of season assessment of George Russell's performance in 2022, praising the Briton for ticking all of the team's boxes and doing "an incredibly good job".

Russell moved to Mercedes after a three-year stint with Williams and was immediately on a par with his illustrious teammate Lewis Hamilton.

But it was anything but clear sailing for the talented 24-year-old who, like his teammate, was hindered by the technical vagaries embedded in Mercedes' complex W13.

While the team relied on Hamilton's experience to help unravel the mysteries of its bucking bronco silver arrow, Russell was left to perform to the best of his and his car's ability, and he did so while fulfilling his team's expectations according to Mercedes chief-strategist James Vowles.

"I think on a whole it doesn’t really take us to tell you this but George did a very good job this year," said Vowles.

"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 really move us forward as a part of the team.

"George in that period of time was just really focussed on learning, embedding himself into the team and he scored a number of results really that benefitted him as a result of that."

• Read also: Russell 'absolutely ready' to be F1 champion

In Brazil, at the penultimate round of the 2022 championship, Russell went on to deliver to Mercedes its only win of the season and his maiden Grand Prix victory.

But beyond the young gun's results, Mercedes has been impressed all year with Russell's ease in striking all the objectives - on the track and off it - laid out by the German outfit.

"Irrespective, his qualifying pace I think is within a tenth of where Lewis ended up, his race pace was very, very strong throughout the year," added Vowles.

"That's really what we were looking for, how does he fit into our environment? How does he fit into the team? How does he work with Lewis? How does he work with everyone else?

"I think in all of those he did an incredibly good job."

As impressive as Russell's performances were during his formative years with Williams, Vowles insists that stepping up to Mercedes was no small feat given the operational differences between the two outfits.

"It was a big step up for him from Williams," said the British engineer.

"I think where Williams operated is obviously very high level, where we operate is a little bit different to that.

"I think he adapted very quickly and very well."

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