Karun Chandhok admits that 25-year-old F1 driver took a ‘step backwards’ in 2023

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Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok has admitted that he thinks Mercedes driver George Russell took a step backwards in 2023.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton had a frustrating season as they watched Max Verstappen race into the distance time and again this year.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Karun Chandhok was discussing the difficult season that the 25-year-old had.

When Hamilton and Russell came home in fifth and seventh respectively in Bahrain on the opening weekend of the season, there would have been some concern within the team.

Red Bull had secured a very strong one-two finish and Aston Martin had delivered on their pre-season promise with Fernando Alonso delivering an exceptional podium.

Russell was even beaten by Lance Stroll, while they also benefitted from the retirement of Charles Leclerc.

Chandhok has suggested that Russell had a poor 2023 compared to last year where he finished above his teammate in the Drivers’ Championship.

While that may be true, he’ll be pleased to have finished the season on a high with a podium and had a combination of some bad luck and a couple of poor decisions when in promising positions.

Mercedes have faith in the 25-year-old, having tied him down to a deal with ends in 2025.

He’s one of a few drivers who won’t be sweating over his future during next season.

Chandhok says Russell took a step backwards in 2023

Addressing the young Brit’s season, Chandhok said: “He’s got 100 fewer points than he got in 2022, only two podiums I think this year, so it was a step backwards by his own admission.

“I think there were also two fairly costly errors. I think Canada he was running fourth or fifth when he hit the wall coming out of the chicane and then later retired the car.

“And obviously Singapore is the more high-profile one where he was running third, so that was a healthy haul of points and two possible podiums that went away.

“So, I think that was disappointing but he bounced back a bit towards the end of the year. The qualifying gap between them was the closest it’s been across the entire field.

“They were only 0.02 seconds apart over the course of the season, 15-13 in George’s favour in terms of results so they were evenly matched in qualy.”

Russell will likely agree with Chandhok that his 2023 campaign wasn’t up to scratch and even Jacques Villeneuve admitted he was quite far off the pace.

The British pair were working particularly hard behind the scenes to help the team fix these issues.

They’ll hope that those extra hours will benefit them in 2024 as they hope to close the gap on Red Bull.

That’s going to be easier said than done, but if any team can do it, then it’s likely to be Mercedes.