George Russell is keen to get straight down to business with his new but very familiar Mercedes team ahead of his first season as a full-time race driver for the reigning Formula 1 constructors' champions.
In 2022, Russell slots into the garage next to Lewis Hamilton who knows exactly what it's like to be 'The New Guy' versus a World Champion in the same team. Flashback to his 2007 F1 season at McLaren.
24-year-old Geroge, who spent the last three years learning the ropes at Mercedes power unit customer team Williams, has been handed the break of a lifetime at a team that has won the last eight titles.
He is being developed to be their next F1 world champion with Lewis Hamilton, 37, out of contract at the end of 2023; Russell the heir apparent to lead the team thereafter.
Media attention and pressure will be on a different level to what Russell has experienced so far but the Briton, who very nearly won on his debut for Mercedes as a stand-in for Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, on Friday played down the magnitude of the move.
"It doesn't even feel like a transition period, it just feels like I am with a team who I've been with over these past years," he said at the launch of the Mercedes W13.
Russell: Recently I realised I've actually driven a Mercedes F1 car every single year since 2017
So no big surprises for Geroge as he strolled through the Brackley HQ as a full-time employee for the greatest F1 team of this era: "I do really feel immersed with these guys."
Russell has been supported by Mercedes since 2017, mentoring him through junior series' in which he excelled with ART Grand Prix, becoming GP3 Series Champion in 2017 and a year later winning the 2018 Formula 2 Championship. Mercedes then placed him at Williams in 2019 and the rest is history.
Like any ambitious young driver, Russell will be relishing the opportunity to measure himself against statistically the greatest driver the sport has seen. But he said such thoughts were far from his mind, especially in an era of new rules.
"It's something I have not even thought about to be honest," he said. "We can't focus too much on each other because things are constantly changing.
"We hope Mercedes will still be the fastest team... but there are no guarantees and we need to not be naive to that, work together to ensure that we are," mused Russell.
Hamilton: George fits the position like a glove
His new illustrious teammate Hamilton, who made his F1 debut alongside reigning double world champion Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007, relates to the position Russell is now in: "I know also what it's like for him being... up against a world champion.
"I know the pressures that come with it, the expectations and also the internal feelings of what it's like. He was already a part of our team, so I've seen him around our engineering. So he ... fits the position like a glove," added Hamilton.
Both drivers have had seat time in the car during a shakedown at a damp Silverstone on Friday, a few hours after the 2022 car was launched by Russell and Hamilton, as well as team principal Toto Wolff.
The next appearance for Mercedes and their drivers will be at Circuit de Bacrelona-Catalunya for the first three days of preseason testing at the Spanish Grand Prix venue from 23 to 25 February.
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