George Russell has said he no longer feels like he is in a title battle and has attributed his strong performance at this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix to feeling less pressure as the second half of the season gets underway.
Russell won Saturday's sprint race at Zandvoort from pole position and will line up second on the grid for the grand prix behind McLaren's Lando Norris.
For the first time in multiple races, he appears to hold a performance advantage over his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, who still leads to championship with a 56-point margin over Russell.
With F1 returning from its summer break this weekend, Russell said he is approaching the second half of the year with a different mindset while feeling more confident about his ability to extract performance from his car.
"I think after the break, I just feel way more relaxed," he said. "I don't feel like I've got anything to lose. The pressure's off.
"I'm just going to go out, enjoy it, and I don't even really feel in a fight. It's not mine to lose, it's mine to gain.
"So that's the mentality I've got, and I feel it's going to help me. I'm just enjoying driving."
Russell has made no secret of his difficulty adapting to the demands of the latest generation of F1 cars this year while teammate Antonelli has excelled under the new formula.
Russell started adapting his driving style from the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix onwards, but said it has taken time to reap the benefits and level up with his teammate.
"I think the truth is, obviously Kimi's been doing an amazing job this season, and clearly the two of us have quite different driving styles," Russell said. "That was apparent last year, and it is really working well for him with this car and these tyres.
"I'm just trying to implement something similar into my driving style. I describe it as like if you change your golf swing, you'll probably take half a step back before making those improvements.
"And I think the break just allowed me to put those learnings into the back of my mind, come here this weekend, not fixating on what I want to try and achieve with the car and the tyres, but knowing in the back of my head what I need to achieve and just drive more freely."
- Lando Norris gets back-to-back poles, Mercedes duo behind for Dutch Grand Prix
- Lewis Hamilton admits changes made to his Ferrari 'flipped the car on its head'
- Dutch Grand Prix: Title leader Kimi Antonelli admits series of mistakes are a 'wake-up call'
With half the season remaining, Russell said multiple drivers were still in with a shot of winning the title.
"There's more points on offer from this point until the end of the season than we've had so far," he said. "It changes so, so quick.
"We already saw it early in the season. At one point I was almost 70 points down, got within 25, went up to 60. It ebbs and flows, and it's far from over.
"I think the Ferrari is looking great. Lando's been on pole for the last two races as well, so you can't count anybody out.
"And we've got these upgrades coming. We've got to hope that they work. It only takes one issue with an upgrade and it doesn't work as you expect, and before you know it, you're not fighting week in, week out, and there can be big points missed."
