George Russell says F1 2022 was a good year and challenging one, but he feels 2025 to be stronger than that despite finishing in same position.
In his first season with Mercedes in 2022, Russell ended up fourth in the drivers’ standing with 275 points against his name. After two seasons of dropping back in the championship standings, the Brit once again finished fourth in 2025, but with 319 points.
Back in 2022, it was Russell’s first time alongside Lewis Hamilton, and in 2025, it was his first year at Mercedes as a leader alongside a rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli. He scored one win and eight podiums in 2022, as opposed to two wins and nine podiums in 2025.
He had accolades in the sprint races as well in both seasons, but Russell feels 2025 to be his strongest till now in F1, even better than 2022 despite the different set of challenges then. “Yeah, definitely this…well, I was very happy with 2022, because it was my first year at Mercedes-Benz, my first year as a team-mate with Lewis and that was like a test for me to see how I was going to perform, and that was obviously a factor,” said Russell to media.
“I won when he was, in my eyes, probably the best performance that I’ve seen of Lewis over the course of the season. I think both seasons were very strong. I’d say 2025, without doubt, has been my most competitive. I think 2022 was really challenging, experiencing porpoising for the first time and the challenges we were going through as a team and also my first year against Lewis.
“But I think, yeah, 2025 has been a strong year. Obviously, I’ve got more points, more podiums, more consistency, less mistakes in 2025 [to add]. So, on the whole, [as I said], 2025 is without doubt going to be my strongest year [in F1 till now],” summed up Russell, who will start his eight season in sport in 2026 and his fifth with Mercedes.
Here’s teams’ tier system
Here’s drivers’ tier system
Here’s Mercedes with new logo
Here’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli on rookie season
Here’s Toto Wolff on bad run for Mercedes in the era
