Pre-season testing begins for George Russell ahead of the new Formula 1 season

Excitement is building for George Russell going into his third season with the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team as he hopes for a stronger campaign in 2024.

The Mercedes AMG W15 E-Performance was unveiled last week at an event at Silverstone where Russell also took his car for its first laps on circuit.

He is hoping for an improved season as he only managed to take two podiums last term and trailed his team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 59 points.

This season will be especially important for the driver who hails from Tydd St Giles as Hamilton is leaving Mercedes for their main rival Ferrari, meaning Russell will need to up his game in order to show he is worthy of being top driver.

Although Russell scored Mercedes' only race victory of the last two seasons and beat his team-mate in 2022, the 26-year-old still has a point to prove as to whether he has potential to be a future world champion.

Russell said: "We’ve learned and grown as a team over the past two seasons.

"It’s not been plain sailing, but I truly believe the journey we’ve been on will make us stronger in the long run.

"The whole team has been working incredibly hard and we hope to have made a step with the W15. We made progress with some of the nastier characteristics of the W14 throughout last year.

"But we still had a narrow operating window and, once we were outside of that, the car was difficult to drive.

"If we can continue to widen the operating window of the car, that will provide confidence for us as a drivers and, from there, lap time is easier to find.

“F1 is an incredibly difficult sport. It’s very hard to win - and that’s why we love it.

"Every woman and man at Brackley and Brixworth is so focused on getting to the top. We continue with that focus and dedication into 2024 and I’m excited to see where that takes us."

Speaking at the launch of the W15, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff said the team were keen on bringing a really quick car and aiming to consolidate against Ferrari, McLaren and sometimes Aston Martin and at the forefront of that group, trying to race at the very front.

This bodes well for Russell who will hope to add to his tally of 11 podiums and take a further race win for Mercedes.

Pre-season testing begins on Wednesday and ends on Friday with the first Grand Prix of the season taking place next weekend (February 29-March 2).