George Russell says that the goal for Mercedes is to finish second in the constructors’ championship, ahead of rivals for the runners-up spot behind Red Bull.
The Silver Arrows lead their nearest challenger, Aston Martin, by 51 points but trail the runaway championship leaders Red Bull by 256 points.
Following a disappointing start to the season, Mercedes responded well since the Monaco Grand Prix to collect four podiums and a pole position in a closely fought contest involving Aston Martin, Ferrari and more recently McLaren.
“I think we want to just keep on progressing,” Russell said to the media ahead of the 2023 Dutch GP. “I think as a team you know, we’re in a good position in the constructors championship in P2.
“We’ve sort of made progress. We’re in the fight with Aston Martin and McLaren are obviously looking pretty strong but we want to keep on improving.
“We obviously would love to win a race this year, but Max [Verstappen] and Red Bull are really, really strong. I think the goal for us now is to seal that P2 in the constructors.”
Can Mercedes win the Dutch GP?
Like his teammate Lewis Hamilton, Russell has alluded to the desire to win a race in Formula 1’s 2023 campaign but acknowledges the formidable combination of Verstappen and his RB19.
Mercedes impressed at the 2022 edition around Zandvoort. The team was in position to win before safety car luck unravelled their strategy, and Russell does not rule out the chance of this happening again.
“I see no reason why not. I think these type of circuits or high downforce circuits we tend to go well,” Russell added. “At Budapest we were fast and here was probably one of our most competitive circuits along with, obviously, Brazil.
“But we don’t know what the weekend is going to bring. The weather again looks very up and down but I think it doesn’t matter what conditions, I feel that we can have a strong weekend.”
Russell will look to recover form after struggling to match Hamilton’s pace of late as the senior Mercedes man leads the junior Briton 6-1 in qualifying and race head-to-heads since the Monaco GP.
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
F1 will return from its summer break with the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort on August 25-27, where championship leader Max Verstappen will be racing on home soil.
