George Russell accepts blame for recent 'scrappy' races in 2022 F1 season

George Russell blamed himself for his poor performances over the last three race weekends. The Briton believes his own mistakes cost him a lot of points in the battle for a fourth-place finish in the championship standings.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the 2022 F1 Mexican GP, Russell said:

"I think you obviously want to finish every season as high as you want. I think I'm probably more focused on just getting back into a good groove and rhythm. I think at the start of this year we had such a consistent run of results and every single time we hit the track we were putting in good performances whether it was on a Saturday or Sunday, and everything seemed to be running quite smoothly. But these last three races, for various reasons, have been very scrappy, most of which on my behalf. So I need to… I'm probably just more focused on trying to have a clean last three weekends and the championship should hopefully sort itself out."

The Mercedes driver believes his consistent streak of top-five finishes broke due to his own mistakes. Accepting blame for his performances, George Russell claimed that his pure focus now lies on making sure he has clean race weekends in the last three races on the calendar.

The Briton feels consistent performances should be able to help him edge Carlos Sainz in the battle for fourth place in the standings. In Austin, the former Williams driver clashed with Sainz at the start of the race, with the latter having to retire as a result.

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George Russell feels Mexico is a mixed bag in terms of predictions

Speaking about his expectations from the 2022 F1 Mexican GP weekend, George Russell felt that tire preparation could be a challenge at the high-altitude circuit. The Briton believes that the air density at the circuit can also be challenging for cars and engines, making it an unpredictable weekend compared to last year.

Outlining his expectations from the Mexican race weekend, the Briton said:

"I think Mexico is always a bit of a unique one. Tyre prep is really difficult. Obviously, with the lack of air density and oxygen here, it's difficult for the cars and for the engines and I think we just have to wait and see. I think last year, as you said, Mercedes were on the front row, but they weren't competitive at all throughout the whole weekend, but managed to turn it on for qualifying. So hopefully there can be a small repeat of that, but definitely no guarantees."

According to the Briton, there are no guarantees whether Mercedes will be able to replicate their qualifying performances from the 2021 season in Mexico. The team, however, did bring upgrades to the US GP last weekend, where both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton could display competitive pace. From the feel in the paddock of performance analysts and drivers, Mexico could witness three teams fighting or a six-way fight between the drivers.