George Russell says confidence has returned after Azerbaijan win

George Russell said in Malaysia on 1 October that his confidence is returning ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, after an Azerbaijan victory helped him close the Formula 1 championship gap to Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli to 66 points. Russell said he now understands better how to drive this season’s car, giving him renewed belief that he can fight for wins.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Russell said he “doesn’t feel lost any more”. He described his performances as strong enough to challenge for victory “week in week out”, a change from earlier in the season, when he said he had not felt able to fight for wins because his own performances were insufficient.

The shift is Russell’s assessment of his driving and the car. It does not settle whether Mercedes will have the pace to win regularly over the remaining races, or whether Russell can erase Antonelli’s lead. Russell said he would approach the championship one race at a time.

How Russell adapted to the Mercedes car

Russell told BBC Sport that changes to his driving style had once required conscious thought. They now feel more intuitive, he said, allowing him to concentrate on driving quickly. He linked that adjustment to getting the car into a better operating window and to a growing sense that he knows what he needs from it.

There were signs of that change before the win. In the FIA’s Azerbaijan qualifying press conference, Russell said he had felt comfortable with the car throughout the Baku weekend and that its demands were becoming more intuitive. He said his performances since the summer break had been better than the results suggested.

Russell also told the FIA press conference that he and his team had worked to address the car’s limitations. He pointed to three front-row starts in four races since the summer break. After taking pole in Azerbaijan, he said he felt confident he could challenge for victory, while cautioning that anything could happen in Baku.

What the Azerbaijan win changed in the title race

Russell won in Azerbaijan the previous weekend, according to BBC Sport. It was his third victory of the season and his first in three months. The result supplied a concrete recent success behind his account of improving form, although one victory cannot establish how Mercedes will perform at the next circuit.

The BBC reported that Russell trails Antonelli by 66 points. That remains a substantial deficit even after Baku. Russell acknowledged the gap but said there was roughly a third of the season to go and that much could still happen. He stopped short of predicting a championship comeback.

Antonelli’s Azerbaijan weekend followed a different course. The BBC reported that a qualifying crash left him 16th on the grid, from where he recovered to finish fifth. Antonelli said he had deliberately avoided risks in the race after the disrupted start to his weekend, aiming for a clean result.

Russell had praised his team-mate before the race. In the FIA qualifying transcript, he described Antonelli’s season as nearly flawless to that point and called the Azerbaijan qualifying error his first mistake in qualifying or a race that year. The title contest is therefore between two Mercedes drivers whose recent weekends differed sharply.

What Russell expects in Malaysia

Mercedes expects a challenge from McLaren at the flowing Sepang circuit, BBC Sport reported, because the track’s characteristics should suit McLaren’s car. Mercedes has brought its first major upgrade for some time and hopes it will help the team compete. Russell said he hoped the changes would work in his favour.

The upgrade’s effect remains an open question ahead of the race. Russell’s stronger feeling in the car is a reason for his confidence, but the BBC report does not establish that the new parts will improve its performance. Nor does the Azerbaijan result show which team will be quickest at Sepang.

A separate AS report published on 30 September also described the Azerbaijan win as a relief after a difficult period for Russell. It quoted him saying he felt more like himself since the summer break, consistent with the change he described to the BBC before the Malaysia race.

Russell’s immediate aim is to turn that improved feel into another competitive weekend. He said he would race one event at a time despite the points deficit. For now, the established change is in his recent results and his account of adapting to the car; the next race will test whether that progress carries over.