Mercedes have emerged from pre-season testing in strong shape ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, prompting many in the paddock to tip the Briton as a leading contender for the title.
Russell, however, said the discussion surrounding his chances has little impact on how he prepares for a race weekend.
“It doesn’t change anything at all for me, to be honest,” he told Speedcafe.
“We obviously sit here on a Thursday and we talk about it for an hour, but then when I walk away, I go back to business and I work with my team.
“And what’s been discussed here or written in the media doesn’t help me go faster or doesn’t make me go slower.
“And I think that’s the approach I’ve always had with media, for good or for bad.
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“You’ve got to just not pay too much attention to it because it never positively impacts your own well-being or your own performance.”
Russell said he would continue to take the season race by race, emphasising that the opening round in Melbourne would offer little indication of how the championship will unfold.
“I think I’ve done a good job of that in the past and that’s still the same approach I’m taking,” he added.
“And as I said, I’ll take it race by race, not thinking about the big picture whatsoever, and recognise no matter how this weekend goes it’s a 24-race long season.
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“It’s very, very demanding on everybody, and a lot can change between now and Abu Dhabi.”
Asked more broadly about being labelled a title favourite by rivals and observers, Russell again played down the suggestion.
“I think there’s a lot of chat around us, Mercedes, and take it as a compliment, I guess,” he explained.
“However, once the helmet’s on and the visor’s down, you’re just flat out and you don’t really think about any of this additional noise.”
While refusing to read too much into early predictions, Russell acknowledged Mercedes has reason to be encouraged after a smoother pre-season than in recent years.
“I think there’s just an element of the unknown, excitement going into the first race,” he said.
“I think it’s been a much better pre-season than we’ve had over the last four years. There are no items on the car that have been of major worry to us.
“Everything’s working as expected, correlation is good, simulator correlation is good, and they are things that we’ve failed with over the last four years, so regardless of the stopwatch, things are working out as we hope.”
Even so, Russell stressed that the competitive picture will only become clear once racing begins, noting the many variables that teams still face under the new regulations.
“There’s a huge amount,” he said when asked about the unknowns heading into the season opener.
“I think there’s a lot of discussions around race starts – a challenging topic.
“There are a lot of hurdles. I think you can get tripped up by any small error, so there’s no time to relax during a race, during qualifying, pit stops.
“However, to this point now, I think we’ve done the most amount of preparation possible. We’re feeling in a good place. However, I’m sure, new track things might be different.”
Russell added that the team’s mindset would remain the same regardless of how the opening weekend in Melbourne unfolds.
“Melbourne won’t define the season,” he said.
“And if we want to win we need to keep on pushing, and yeah, we’re ready to do that.”
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