George Russell has opened up on the mental struggles he endured during a difficult period in his motorsport career, when he reached a “low point” and sought psychological help to restore his confidence and morale.
Performing at the highest level for an F1 driver is as much about the machine as it is about the man, or rather about one’s confidence and mental comfort.
Managing F1’s often complex daily procedures and routines on race weekends while extracting the most from one’s equipment is a burden in itself, but when the prospect of failure creeps in and blunts one's confidence, the anguish eats away.
Drivers are now more inclined to speak about mental health and about the importance of relying on outside help to alleviate pain or depression.
©Instagram/GeorgeRussell
McLaren’s Lando Norris has often spoken about the psychological woes he suffered during his first season in F1, the young Briton working with mental health charity and McLaren partner Mind to help him through his days of darkness.
But Russell has also discovered the benefits of opening up to a specialist, as a driver but also as an individual seeking a sense of balance in his life.
“I haven’t always been into my mental health,” he said in an interview with Men’s Health Magazine.
“I only started getting into it about a year and a half, two years ago, when I started to speak with a psychologist, mainly for my on-track personal performance.
“It was only through those conversations that I felt like this is giving me more than just the on-track benefits. I’m coming away from these sessions feeling better about myself, feeling like there had been a weight lifted off my shoulders.”
“Sometimes I went into these sessions with not a lot to talk about, thinking it would only last five or 10 minutes, and I was there well over an hour and since then it has been something I have felt strongly about.”
The Mercedes charger remembers a specific period in his career when he relied on outside help to pull him to revive his confidence and self-esteem.
“The moment when I thought I need to seek some professional help, I had a really difficult race. I had a crash, [and] it was a very low point in my career,” Russell recalled, perhaps alluding to his crash with Valtteri Bottas at Imola in 2021, or his mishap behind the Safety Car at the same venue the year before.
“I thought I could just pick myself up from that moment and I was picking myself up, but we decided to speak with a professional.
“And I was so grateful that I was advised to do that because I came away from that conversation and that meeting with him feeling so much better about myself, and put those negatives to the side, lifted myself up, and I was ready to attack the rest of the day and the rest of the week.”
As for what advice he would offer to someone who is mentally struggling, Russell said: “The one bit of advice I would give to someone who is struggling with their mental health would be not to be ashamed about talking to somebody.
“Whether that is a friend, or a colleague, or a member of your family, or reaching out to a professional.
“We all have our moments where we are feeling a bit down, a little bit low but even when we are not, I think talking to somebody to almost have this mental maintenance just to keep ticking over, to keep in that positive place, is so important.”
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