Lewis Hamilton has barely faced any competition during his decade-long stint at Mercedes so far. Other than losing the title in 2016 to Nico Rosberg, the Briton has comfortably beaten his teammates in all other seasons until George Russell joined him in 2022. After Russell beat Hamilton in their first season as teammates, the most recent data suggests that the 25-year-old has indeed been the seven-time champion’s “toughest teammate” at Mercedes.
Hamilton arrived at Mercedes in 2013 and has spent 11 years with the team so far. In this time, he got the better of his teammates on nine occasions. The only two times he lost were in 2016 and recently in 2022.
The 2022 F1 season provided a clear glimpse of the kind of potential Russell has to compete against Hamilton. A recent report from The Race on YouTube also provided stats to back the claim of why Russell has arguably been the strongest teammate Hamilton has had during his time with Mercedes.
As per their survey, Russell has been “extremely close to Hamilton consistently”. The stats say that although Hamilton defeated Russell in the championship in 2023, it was the 25-year-old who was 0.021% faster than the former McLaren driver during qualifying. Therefore, there was barely anything to choose between them.
However, this isn’t the only feather in the cap that Russell achieved in his two years at Mercedes so far. When Russell beat Hamilton in the championship in 2022, he became only the third driver in history to beat the 38-year-old in the same team.
It’s pertinent to note that not even two-time champion Fernando Alonso was able to beat Hamilton during their time as teammates at McLaren in 2007. While Russell failed to repeat this feat in 2023, he does hope to beat Hamilton in 2024.
George Russell hopes to beat ‘GOAT’ Lewis Hamilton in 2024
After losing against Lewis Hamilton in 2023, George Russell admitted that the seven-time world champion is indeed the Greatest of All Time (‘GOAT’). Speaking to Tom Clarkson of the Beyond the Grid podcast, the young Briton said that he gets compared to the GOAT every time he takes to the race track.
Even though Russell considers Hamilton the greatest to ever grace the sport, he has made it clear that his goal is yet to beat the 38-year-old. Russell has made it clear that he has no intention of playing second-fiddle to Hamilton like his predecessor, Valtteri Bottas, did.
Since Russell has no intention of playing second fiddle, the report from The Race claims that tensions have been increasing between the two Mercedes teammates. The presenter explains how one case in point was the collision the two teammates had in Qatar.
F1 2024. Let’s go! pic.twitter.com/EQVynvBedL
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) January 1, 2024
While Hamilton was quick to take the blame for the incident, the presenter of The Race explains how there were some “testy radio messages” from Russell during other races as well. For example, during the Japanese Grand Prix, the 25-year-old asked his team on the radio, “Who do we want to fight here? Each other or the others“?
As for Hamilton, he has always insisted that he maintains a strong relationship with Russell irrespective of what the reports claim. While speaking to Sky Italy after their clash in Qatar, Hamilton said, “I think we are a great team. George and I still have a great relationship. We will discuss things and work away“.
