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.”