george russell is interviewed on media day, canada - june 15, 2023
(transcription under the cut)
Interviewer: "Tell us about this circuit. Explain how this circuit differs from Barcelona, that should effect how your car goes differently here than it would in Barcelona; the strong showing you had last time out."
George: "It's a really different circuit. Barcelona, with the new changes, is all medium, high-speed corners. In Montreal it's all slow-speed corners. Barcelona is a very smooth tarmac; here, it's very bumpy. We're hitting all the kerbs. It's a street track. And, finally, in Barcelona we had the three hardest tires and here we have the three softest tires.
So there's no guarantee that we're gonna be competitive, or as competitive as we were in Barcelona. At best I expect it to be quite close with us, Aston Martn, and Ferrari, but the spirits are good. We feel like we're in a good place, things are going in the right direction, and mixed conditions, so yeah, no reason why we can't have a good weekend."
Interviewer: "Okay. Just finally, we haven't heard anything about Lewis' new contract. We believe he and Toto spoke in the week. We're expecting him to sign again. When you signed, did you think you might be teammates with Lewis for the next sort of four years, it turns out, maybe, potentially?"
George: "Yeah, I think so. You've only got to look at his skin. He looks like a 25-year-old. I think I've got a few more wrinkles than he has, so…
No, I think there's many years left in Lewis, and I guess he's at a stage now in his career that, as long as he keeps on enjoying racing and he sees a chance to win, why wouldn't you continue? And we both believe in this team. He's still performing at a really strong level, and we're pushing one another, and it's an exciting time for the sport, so he'll be here for years to come, I'm sure."