Although Mercedes was out of title contention, Russell ended 2022 with his stock greatly enhanced by beating Lewis Hamilton in the standings and with a Formula 1 grand prix win to boot.
Russell said he still “felt a bit of a rookie” at times in 2022, but only in the sense that, now racing for Mercedes, he had a bigger workforce and additional tools and systems to call upon. It was a moving target too, because the team had to redesign its simulation and analysis tools to ensure it could really replicate porpoising, which meant that what its drivers felt in the simulator wasn’t always as it really was on track.
