George Russell laments that he spent "too long" driving for an uncompetitive Williams team at the start of his Formula 1 career.
A Mercedes junior, it was clear quite early that the Brit had the potential to make it to the very top. He fended off competition from Lando Norris to win the 2018 Formula 2 title, and landed his chance to impress at the pinnacle of motorsport.
Williams had been a strong midfield team in previous years, but declined sharply in 2018. Russell was not worried, though, as he was confident that they would be able to recover quickly and he would be in a position to score regular points and show off his talent.
That is not what happened, though, and the team was uncompetitive throughout his three seasons there. He still managed to impress enough to fill in for Lewis Hamilton at Sakhir in 2020 before getting the permanent call up for this year, but still Russell feels he spent too much time running at the back of the grid.
"I think when we signed with Williams back in 2018, this was a team, bearing in mind, that had just spent three years scoring podiums, finishing P3, P3, P5 in the constructors', and then they had a very bad year in 2018 where they finished last," he said on the Beyond The Grid podcast.
"But we thought that this was a team that at the time that can bounce back from this, and they'll be back in the P5 to P3 region of competitiveness. So, we all sort of agreed that three years was a good period, fighting for points, maybe for podiums.
"In hindsight, three years driving on my own at the back of the grid was too long. But, unfortunately, Claire [Williams, former deputy team principal] did quite a good job at the contract negotiations, and there was sort of no way out."
Despite his impatience, the Brit admits that the new technical regulations for this season made it an ideal time for him to make the transition. Mercedes' struggles have meant he has not been in contention for race wins, as he would have wanted, but at least he has some sort of parity within the team when going up against seven-time world champion Hamilton.
"When I look at this with the benefit of hindsight, I think joining Mercedes last year or even in 2020 would've been incredibly tough because going up against Lewis when that car has been evolved to suit his style of driving over so many years, that was his baby," he added. "Whereas now it's a fresh sheet of paper for everybody, everybody is starting from scratch, and this was probably the right time."
