Will Verstappen get new rival? 'Ready to fight for championship'

Tensions between Russell and Hamilton?

This season, Russell finished a whopping 59 points behind teammate Lewis Hamilton, while the year before he finished above his teammate in the championship. Things went completely wrong in Qatar this season, when Russell and Hamilton hit each other at Turn 1, forcing the seven-time world champion to abandon his race.

Despite that, Russell believes there is no tension between him and his teammate: "Lewis and I are at very different stages of our career. My mentality is pretty clear, if you qualify ahead of the other guy and make a good start you are going to beat them. It's as simple as that. I'm not thinking how I am going to race my teammate, I'm thinking about how I'm going to qualify as high as possible, make the best start, have the best race."

Russell ready for championship battle

The Mercedes is no longer the best car in the field after the rulebook changes. Red Bull Racing dominates the championships, and everyone else watches the Austrian team take victory after victory every week. Besides, Russel believes that if his car allows it, he can compete for the championship: "I know personally I will be ready. I'm confident on a personal level that whatever is thrown at me I will be ready to tackle it."

Of course, that does require a good car, and the Briton realises that too: "I'm definitely confident we are going to make a car that is much more competitive than this year and probably I said the same 12 months ago, but we made some mistakes over the winter that I am confident we won't be making again. It's down to our rivals what they achieve, but Austin was a step in the right direction and if anybody can achieve that change in performance Mercedes can."