George Russell looks you in the eye and oozes self-belief as he describes how he feels as heads into his seventh season in Formula 1, his first as effective leader of the Mercedes team.

“I know my time will come,” the 27-year-old Briton says. “And I’ve just got to ensure that I keep on performing. And whether it’s this year or next year, it’ll come.

“And if I keep delivering those results, as I did over these last three years against the best driver of all time, I believe I will get myself in the fight and hopefully a world championship to my name.”

Russell’s self-confidence is deeply held, and has been there for as long as he has been racing. But it has been nurtured by the time he spent at Mercedes as team-mate to Lewis Hamilton.

Last year, Russell became the first driver in Hamilton’s 18-year career to comprehensively beat the seven-time champion in qualifying over a full season. The head-to-head score was 19-five to Russell, at an average advantage of 0.171 seconds a lap.

And over their three years together since 2022, Russell finished ahead in the championship in two of them.

There are caveats – not least that Hamilton’s final year at Mercedes came after he had told the team he was leaving them for Ferrari at the end of it.

But, as Russell puts it in an exclusive interview with BBC Sport: “The results speak for themselves. And I don’t have anything I need to prove or show.

“I am proud of the results I’ve achieved going up against somebody like Lewis.

“At the end of 2021, statistically and in terms of perception, Lewis was the greatest of all time. And I’ve had three years against the greatest of all time, and I finished ahead of him two out of the three years I had as team-mates. And finished ahead more times in ‘quali’ and more times in the race.

“If this was a different time or a different era, if you finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton, you’re a world champion.”

With Hamilton’s departure, Russell, becomes the senior driver at Mercedes. His new team-mate is Andrea Kimi Antonelli, an 18-year-old Italian prodigy who has been on Mercedes’ books for several years.

“He’s a great kid,” Russell says. “He’s very young, but he’s a really nice guy. Super-fast, of course.

“Being thrown in at the deep end, which is going to be a big challenge. But in terms of raw speed, I don’t think you can question it. And there’s going to be an interesting new dynamic.”

Hamilton’s departure, Russell says, referencing the explosion of interest the move to Ferrari has created, “has been good for everyone”.

“This is turning a page,” Russell says about a team that had employed Hamilton for 12 years. “It’s a new chapter. And I don’t suddenly feel any additional responsibility.”

And what does he think Hamilton faces at Ferrari, alongside new team-mate Charles Leclerc, against whom Russell has raced since they were boys in karting?

“Charles is a fantastic driver,” Russell says. “No doubt about that. So I’m going to be really intrigued to see how that pans out because they’re two amazing drivers.

“He’s obviously entering an Italian team where Charles has been very much the number one for the past six years. It’s quite an interesting dynamic, but I think it’ll be close between the two of them.”

There is one big elephant in the room as Mercedes head into 2025 – and its name is Max Verstappen.

Team boss Toto Wolff has said the team “very much hope that the 2025 line-up will be the line-up going forward”. But it is no secret that that Wolff courted Verstappen last year, and still has hopes of attracting him to the team – perhaps as early as 2026.

If he succeeds, one of the current drivers – both of whom have been nurtured by the team for years – would have to find a seat elsewhere.

Russell is aware of this as a potential scenario, but professes not to be remotely concerned about it.

“I don’t think there’s any pressure whatsoever,” he says “All I need to do is continue doing what I’m doing, continue doing what I’ve done my whole career.

“So that changes nothing. And it’s not even something I’m thinking about. Because I 100% back myself. It’s as simple as that. You perform and everything will be there for you.

“I want to go up against the best. I don’t feel that my ability is in question.”

The Verstappen question is given added edge when it comes to Russell because of their personal history. The pair had a major falling out at the end of last season and there is no sign of relations thawing this.

Russell says: “I wasn’t going to just stand and be bullied around. People seem to always back down to him. And that’s just not how I go about my business.

“I’m not there to be best mates with a world champion. I’m here to win. And that’s his mentality as well. There’s no love lost.

“I’ve never been scared to race against Max. I’ve always put up a fight.”

Tense as the situation may be between Russell and Verstappen, any battles between them may not be for a race win at the start of the season, Russell believes.

“I don’t think either of us right now have a car that potentially is capable of beating the McLaren,” he says.

“McLaren, without doubt, look by far the strongest. Especially their race pace looks pretty impressive.”

Mercedes won four races last year – two each for Russell and Hamilton – and have come into 2025 hoping for a car with more rounded abilities that can be competitive everywhere, rather than only on certain tracks and in certain conditions, as last year.

“There’s definitely improvements throughout the car, no doubt about it,” Russell says. “Naturally, there’s always something you need to work on.

“So, you know, we struggled a bit with low-speed understeer last year. There’s still signs of that that we’re still trying to get on top of, and we think we’ve got some things in the locker to try and cure those issues. But definitely the car’s feeling a bit more together.”

Russell’s focus this year will not only be on the track. As a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, he will also be forced to confront the concerns many in F1 have about the conduct of Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of governing body the FIA.

A series of Ben Sulayem’s actions have angered the drivers in recent years, and over the winter, new rules codifying a process by which drivers can face race bans for swearing have increased concerns.

Russell chooses his words carefully, but is firm about the drivers’ convictions.

“Things have gone a little bit out of hand in the recent months with some of the things that have been going on,” he says, adding that he feels the FIA’s stance is “unnecessary”.

“Not only we’re racing drivers,” he says, “we’re personalities, and if you are the individual who wants to swear as much as you like, that has a certain impact on your brand and your perception regardless of the FIA getting involved.

“There’s times and a place. You have to ensure that our emotions stay real and true, especially when it comes to the (in-car) radio, and potentially an interview straight after the race. That’s what’s so pure about it.

“If you’re talking on a Thursday afternoon in front of a number of people, maybe swearing is not really necessary or required. But when it comes to that raw emotion, you need to let us be as authentic as possible.”