The upcoming F1 season will undoubtedly mark the biggest year of his life and career to date after spending th🌜e last three seasons racing for Mercedes customer team Williams. ⛦;

Russell could no longer be ignored 𒉰by the big bosses♍ at Mercedes thanks to his starring performances for Williams over his three-year stint, which earned him a deserved break five years after being signed up to its junior programme. 

Having won races every step of 𒆙the way during his meteoric rise up the junior ranks, including back-to-back title triumphs in GP3 and Formula 2, Russell was forced to reset his goals and mindset when he finally got his 🅺F1 break in a woefully uncompetitive Williams in 2019. 

Russell found himself languishing at the very back of the grid for the first t🌌ime in his racing career, but it was a challenge the Briton fully embraced.

“It didn’t take that long [to adapt to] because I had the mindset that ‘this is what we’ve got, there’s nothing I can do about it’,” Russell tells mahbx.com in an exclusive interview.

“I’m not going to focus on something I can’t change and I’m going to make the most of this difficult situation. I think t𒁃hat made me stronger.”&n𒈔bsp;

Over the following three seasons, Russell helped Williams slowly edge away from rock-🌊bottom and up to eighth in the constructors’ championship by the end of 2021, signalling the beginning of a hopeful🧸 new era at Grove. 

Each step of the way the small victories got bigger. Q2 appeara🐓nces soon morphed int💞o Q3 outings as Russell’s superb displays quickly became the norm, earning him high praise and the nickname ‘Mr Saturday’. 

Following a barren two-year spell without a top-10 finish, Williams finally returned to the points at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. At the next race in Belgium, a sensational qualifying lap from Russell in wet con⛄ditions ultimately paved the way for an unlikely podium finish when the race was abandoned due to heavy rain after just two laps behind the Safety Car.

But for a hugely ambitious talent like Russell, only the sweet taste of victory champagne on the top step of theꦡ F1 podium will suffice. 

“Obviously I want to be a winner, I waꦬnt to be a world champion and we spent the whole time at the back of the grid,” he continued. “2020 was a stronger year but it wasn’t enough for us. 2021 was a stronger year but it was never enough. 

“When I✨ got into Q2 for the first time, we celebrated a lot. When you do that a second and a third time, that wears off, you want to get to Q3. When you are in Q3, we celebrated🍌 a lot and we were excited. But then you want to be in Q3 at every other event, or every event. Until you are world champion, it’s never enough. 

“For me, obviously, if you were to give me a choice♍; would I prefer to be last or P10, I ไwould say P10. But it’s not a linear progression. I’m still learning my trade and if I’m P10, I’m still not world champion, so I’m not overly fussed. 

“I’m more gratef🐼ul to have been able to learn my trade, a bit under the radar, and being prepared as mu🦂ch as possible for when I do have a car that hopefully can help me achieve what I want to achieve.” 

When Hamilton was ruled out of the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, Russelꦕl was handed the opportunity to prove himself in front-running machineryܫ as he stepped up to Mercedes for a one-off, stand-in appearance. 

Russell’s Mercedes outing was far from ideal. He had to sque𒉰eze into a car that was optimised for Hamilton’s smaller stature, and also had to wear race boots that were a size too small. 

Despite having no prior experience of driving Mercedes’ W11, Russell was only narrowl🎶y beaten to pole position by Valtteri Botttas and outperformed the Finn in the race with a dominant display. 

Russell appeared on course to land a fairytale victory until a team strategy error and a late punctuไre cruelly robbed him of what would have been a deserved m💝aiden F1 win. 

It was in his crushing disapp𒐪ointments like Sakhir 2020, and other low points such as crashing his Williams behind the Safety Car while running inside the points at Imola the same year, where Russell learned his most valuable lesson.    

“It wasn’t just the Mercedes experience, but there were ot✨her experiences as well, and dealing with and bouncing back from disappointment is part of life and part of competitive sport,” he explained. 

“You know a championship isn’t won or lost in one race, it’s won over the course of a season. You will always have disappointing race weekends, you’ll have failures, you’ll have success. But if you don’t 🍬bounce back from those disappointments, you are only going to compromise yourself and ꦜyour team for the remaining races. 

“So accepting those disappointm🉐ents, learning from it, and equally just moving on and going from there.” 

And 🐷Russell believes his experiences of learning how to overcome difficult moments have ultimately helped shape him into a stronger driver ahead of his Mercedes switch. 

“Absolutꩲely,” Russell responded when asked if he feels better prepared to deal with any setbacks he may encou💙nter in the future. 

“I think people who have it easy throughout their career, throughout their life, when they do face these disappointments,☂ they struggle to deal with it, and probably aren’t able to bounce back as quickly. 

"And that’s why I’m grateful that I’ve been in this posi🤡tion on a number of occasions, to make me more resilient. I would have loved to have won that race [Sakhir 2020], but that’s not what I want my career to be remembered by. 

“I want to be the most complete driver poss🐼ible and I want to look back in 20 years time and say ‘that was an incredibly strong career, every single outcome had a reason behind it and that made me a𝓀 stronger driver’. I believe that race in Bahrain, losing that victory, will make me a stronger driver.

“In a way, it would have been too much of a fa𓃲irytale to have won and I probably wouldn’t have appreciated the achievement if that had𒆙 happened.” 

After enjoying the luxury and relative comfort of a relaxed environment at Williams, Russell will face new levels of pressure a꧂nd expectation when he becomes a Mercedes driver.

Fellow Brit Landoꦏ🍃 Norris has drawn plaudits for his openness about the mental health struggles he has faced since arriving on the grid, having admitted he was often depressed as he battled doubts during his rookie season. 

Lik🐼e Norris, Russell is keen to dispel the st🍸igma surrounding mental health.

♋“Mental health is something that needs to be spoken about openly for everybody, especially in men,” he said. “It’s something that people perceive as weakness but I think it’s quite the opposite; if you are able to talk about it, it jus♑t shows your strength. 

“I wouldn’t say I’ve struggled with self-doubt but definitely there have been moments of disappointment and struggling to power through very difficult moments where you find yourself in a potential dark space within your professional career. Sometimes it goes over ꦓinto your personal life as well. 

“We’re all so passionate and if something brings you down professionally, for us, it follows through into your personal life and you are almost on this downward spiral. I think you’ve got to face these c💫hallenges head-on and not hide behind it - that will help you power through, raise 𓆉your spirits and lift you higher. 

“I feel grateful I’ve been through these emotions and some of these experiences, not incredibly tough ones, but I could have been in a situation where if I didn’t face any of these experiences I wouldn’t have learnt how to deal ꩵwith these disappointments.”