F1 News: Fernando Alonso's Words Inspire George Russell To Live His F1 Dream
Listening to Fernando Alonso's statements in a podcast caused Mercedes driver George Russell to reflect on his career in Formula 1 quite seriously, thus prompting changes to his mentality and helping him live the F1 dream. The British driver has been following the advice rather seriously and from the looks of it, it has been doing him good.
Russell joined Mercedes in 2022 and surprised everyone by beating his teammate, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, in the Drivers' Standings. However, 2023 has had quite a few challenges to offer him. He's had enough zeal to overcome many and a few mistakes might have hit him hard.
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Fortunately, senior driver Alonso's regret might have come as the best advice to Russell at the right time. Speaking to Tom Clarkson on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, the 25-year-old driver opened up about how he changed his perception of his Formula 1 career mid-season. He revealed:
“A small mentality change from my side.
"How I’m working with my engineers, the things I’m focusing on with the setup of the car. I’m probably enjoying life a bit more.
"I listened to a podcast from Fernando [Alonso], where he said that if he could change one thing in his career, he wished he enjoyed the moment more often when he was younger.
"That sort of resonated with me because I’m living my dream here. But sometimes you forget to enjoy it and enjoy it with the people around you.
"Smile, not just constantly be this 120% serious guy focusing on every detail. And it doesn’t mean that I’m any less professional now. It’s just that I’m enjoying my life more. I’m in a much happier place.”
The advice might have come at the right time for Russell after his battle for a podium finish met with a depressing end in Singapore when a silly mistake caused him to crash and end the day with a DNF.
