Ru꧋ssell finished third on the podium in Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi 🧔Grand Prix to help Mercedes secure second place in the constructors’ championship ahead of Ferrari. 

The Briton revealed earlier in the Abu 🌸Dhabi weekend that he had be⛎en struggling with illness for the past two weeks.

“Firstly, in Vegas with a big fever, I couldn't sleep and just felt awful,” Russell explained in the post-rac🤡e press conference. 

“Then I've had a horrendous cough that stayed with me all week and in the car. I w🌊as coughing every single lap but when you're strapped into the car, you can't breathe. 

“You can't take a deep breath in to get the cough out. So, it was just c🌺onstantly with me. It was pretty miserable. So, I w🔥as pleased to bring it home when I saw that chequered flag.” 

2023 featured 22 races and next year’s calendar will be&n⛦bsp;F1’s longest-ever season with 24 grands prix. 

Alpine’s Esteban𝄹 Ocon, who was also ill over the Abu Dhabi weekend, said the body is “not designed” for 24 races a year. 

Asked how much he thinks F1 needs to consider the wellbeing of everyone in the paddock, Russell replied: “I think the drivers, we have it best from e🤪very single person in this paddock, the way we travel. We're in a very fortunate position. 

“But everybody up and down the paddock - I've got so many mechanics who are🍒 ill, people in t🏅he engineers’ office, just really struggling with the constant time zone shifts. 

“The bod⛎y not knowing where you are, eating at different times, staying in different hotels, different environments,🀅 different climates. 

“The body's getting confused. I thi🐭nk there are talks for next year about personnel being regulated that the🐓y can't do every single race. I think that would be a good thing. 

“I don't think it's sustainable to 4,000 people, I think it is, to do 24 races a season, especially when you seeꦰ how geographically it still doesn't make a huge amount of sense.”