Has Mercedes solved porpoising? 'You'll see next week'

It is clear to Lewis Hamilton's teammate that he is ready for the new season. Russell feels strong and wants to take that energy into the season start. "It's been a pretty good winter. I feel in a strong place. Mentally I feel in the strongest place I've ever been," he stressed.

Good winter period for Russell

Russell managed to finish in the top five each time during the last four race weekends of last season, taking him into the winter break feeling good. In Brazil, he even managed to take a win in both the sprint race and main race.

"I think it's just down to having a good break spent with friends family, girlfriend. Making sure that I enjoyed that time off. On a professional level, I feel like I've done the necessary work with my team to prepare myself best for the season. I feel more pressure when I am less prepared because you feel you've left something on the table."

Russell on improvements at Mercedes

Last season, Russell was unable to make a serious push for first place in the World Championship at any point during the year. Behind the scenes, however, he saw Mercedes working hard to make the W14 a high-performing car.

"I know that my team have put everything into this car. I have put everything into my fitness side, the sim work, work with engineers, obviously you can always do more but I feel I am in a really place of finding the right balance."

Mercedes still suffered a lot of porpoising last season, with the car bouncing around the track a lot of the time. While Russell is willing to state that he expects a lot from the new season, he leaves it open whether the problems with porpoising have been completely solved. "You'll see next week," he said.