George Russell: ‘Mercedes are so used to winning … it is demoralising sometimes’

George Russell says of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton: ‘I see the bigger picture and I recognise who I am teammates with. I have joked that him staying in the sport has almost saved my career.’ Photograph: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images

George Russell apologises for being late as he sits down in the Mercedes motorhome, delayed by a filming commitment. The well-mannered British driver is, to his credit, disarmingly honest about the turmoil his team have faced over the past two seasons in going from the predominant force in Formula One to flailing in and fighting a stubbornly pernicious car.

“It could have gone one of two ways,” he says, as the team prepare for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix. “It could have broken everybody, or it could have brought everybody together.”