Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, according to Mercedes team president Toto Wolff, make up the finest driver combination on the field. In 2022, the pair showed a decent amount of consistency, with the former Williams player consistently demonstrating his skills.
Lewis Hamilton has won seven world championships throughout the first 16 years of his career, solidifying himself as one of the top drivers in the sport. The British player, nevertheless, did not do well during the first part of the 2022 season since his team’s rival was rife with porpoising.
George Russell, on the other hand, demonstrated his value to the Brackley-based team during the season with a number of top-five results. Russell, according to Toto Wolff, is self-critical and works best on the grid with Lewis Hamilton.
Regarding the two drivers, Toto Wolff told GPFans: “One of the qualities that makes him a prospective world champion is that George is constantly extremely critical of himself. He is now a member of the Mercedes works team, we are still working on the automobile, and if you ask me right now, the finished product will be different.”
“Lewis was performing well in the final third of the year, whereas George, you might say, was doing extremely well at the beginning of the year. But in terms of peak performance, we have the strongest lineup, which combines the two top drivers.”
George Russell asserted that he cannot consistently outperform Lewis Hamilton in practice
Despite outperforming Lewis Hamilton in 2022, George Russell is still realistic about his chances of defeating the legendary F1 driver in the future.
George Russell said to The Race in an interview about his rivalry with his colleague that he would never be able to consistently outperform Lewis Hamilton. He stated:
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“I won’t be able to defeat him in every practice, qualifying round, or race. That’s just not going to happen at all. However, a year like we’ve had this year is roughly comparable to what my prior 95/5 split was.”
Russell said, “I’ve never had any doubts. I have always had faith in myself. However, you’ll be let down if your approach is one of ‘I’m going to beat Lewis Hamilton 95% of the time.'”
George Russell thinks that going into every weekend with the expectation that he can defeat Lewis Hamilton will only lead to ongoing disappointment. The 24-year-old, though, believes he can keep defeating his teammate by a slim margin in order to maintain his record.
Russell joins a select group of those who have defeated Lewis Hamilton on equal machinery in the past. It will be interesting to see if the former Williams driver can maintain his position in 2023, given that Mercedes is apparently prepared to compete at the top of the grid.
