“I’m Competing With the Greatest Driver”: George Russell Calls Himself Average Against Lewis Hamilton in 2023

George Russell has one of the toughest jobs in F1 as he is currently competing against Lewis Hamilton, who the 25-year-old believes is the “greatest driver“. While Russell did manage to beat Hamilton in their first season as Mercedes teammates, the 38-year-old ensured that a similar scenario did not repeat. After losing in the championship to Hamilton, Russell has shared his thoughts about his 2023 season.

As quoted by formulapassion.it, the young Briton told the Telegraph, “This year I was on average at Hamilton’s level. And it’s not enough for me to be on his level. I want to stay ahead of him. I think the qualifying statistics, if you include the sprint races, are exactly the same. And also regarding the rhythm, we are generally equal“.

While Russell made it clear that his goal is to perform better than Hamilton, he did acknowledge that he also has to be realistic when things do not go his way. “I also have to be realistic. I’m competing with the greatest driver of all time. It’s certainly not a bad reference point,” explained the 25-year-old.

After reflecting on his own 2023 campaign, George Russell also shared his thoughts about Red Bull’s domination this season. He stated that while he has no doubt that the Milton Keynes outfit will be the favorites next season as well, he does believe that there is a slight change that “things can change“.

Red Bull will enter 2024 as favorites after obliterating the field in 2023

Red Bull dominated the entire 2023 campaign as they won a record 21 out of the 22 races. Max Verstappen won 19 of the races and won the championship by a whopping 290 points from Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez. Since the Milton Keynes outfit were in a league of their own this season, fans can expect them to also dominate in 2024.

While Mercedes are working tirelessly to close the gap to Red Bull, they do have a tall order ahead of them. Moreover, it is pertinent to note that the Silver Arrows are likely to face even more competition from Ferrari and McLaren considering the way the two teams ended the 2023 campaign.

Although Ferrari ended up losing P2 to Mercedes, they were definitely the better side than the Silver Arrows in the last few races. Meanwhile, McLaren arguably were better than both Ferrari and Mercedes in the second part of the 2023 campaign as their drivers registered multiple podium finishes.