P1racenews AI automatic summary:
George Russell is quietly optimistic of Mercedes’ chances of success in this year’s F1 season, hilariously concurring with Toto Wolff’s assessment its new W17 “doesn’t like like it’s a turd”.
George Russell is cautiously optimistic about Mercedes’ chances in the upcoming Formula 1 season. He agrees with team boss Toto Wolff’s positive assessment of their new W17 car. The Brit sees Mercedes as a potential championship contender due to the powertrain’s superiority and the new car’s reliability in recent testing.
Mercedes aims to bounce back after a challenging period during the ground-effect era. Russell expresses a desire to compete head-to-head with rival Max Verstappen and believes the W17 could make this possible. While joking about the car’s early performance, he acknowledges it’s too soon to make definitive statements and praises the progress of competitors like Red Bull.
The team has had a reliable testing session, but Russell remains cautious about the W17’s championship-winning potential. He highlights the impressive new power unit from Red Bull and stresses the need to see how the car performs under race conditions. Overall, Russell is hopeful that the W17 will propel him to World Championship glory.
