Russell: Morale within Mercedes is booming

In Sao Paulo, last weekend, the 24-year-old Briton led his seven times F1 world champion Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton one-two at the chequered flag at Interlagos after also winning the Saturday sprint and setting the fastest lap.

The Sao Paulo victory was Russell's first in F1, at the end of his fourth season in the sport and his first with Mercedes.

On Thursday in Abu Dhabi, Russell told reporters he had slept for most of the flight from Brazil to the UAE and the celebrations had been put on hold until after the season-ender at Yas Marina.

When asked if he felt any different, he replied: "I always believed I could achieve victories and you believe you can become a world champion.

"For sure confidence is high and the morale within the team is booming. But you know, I don't suddenly feel transformed overnight. I still feel the same driver as I was this time one week ago.

Russell said Mercedes would be seeking to make it two in a row this weekend but is wary of Max Verstappen and Red Bull: "I think since Austin [our] car's been performing really well and probably better than we could have ever hoped for.

"Max and Red Bull are going to be fast here. I think the combination of the low-speed corners and the long straights, they are going to suit their car really, really well. But, you know, we saw even in Brazil, on a circuit that we didn't expect to be quite as competitive, we were still very quick.

"So yeah, we'll be going for it," declared Russell, aiming to become only the 78th F1 driver to win more than one Grand Prix.