Australian F1 journalist Peter Windsor’s comments from last year regarding George Russell’s position in the Mercedes team have resurfaced on social media. The 70-year-old had urged team principal Toto Wolff to part ways with George Russell.
Windsor had explained how Russell’s involvement in the team is preventing Mercedes from making progress with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. His remarks have now resurfaced amid the Silver Arrows’ below-par start to the 2023 season.
Mercedes are currently joint-second with Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship and have scored just 38 points. What is most disappointing for the Silver Arrows is their staggering 49 points gap to championship leaders Red Bull.
‘The problem is George’: Peter Windsor on Mercedes’ struggles
While speaking on the Cameron F1 YouTube channel last year, Peter Windsor had said, “The problem is George, of course – it’s not anything more or less than that”. Windsor said that Russell is the problem, as Hamilton would never want to play second fiddle to another teammate.
The 70-year-old explained his point further by comparing Mercedes’ situation with Red Bull. Windsor had said that ‘Red Bull would never in a million years’ have signed Russell as Max Verstappen’s teammate.
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The Australian journalist had revealed that if Mercedes were to get their campaign back last year, then they just had two options. The first option was to part ways with Russell. Meanwhile, the second option was for the Silver Arrows to make it clear to the 25-year-old that he should feel comfortable finishing behind Hamilton.
While Windsor cited several problems with having Hamilton and Russell together in one team, he did admit that there was a major positive. The 70-year-old explained that the Silver Arrows had a natural replacement in Russell to lead the team when Hamilton retires.
Lewis Hamilton vs. George Russell stats comparison
George Russell joined Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes as a replacement for Valtteri Bottas at the end of the 2021 season. The Silver Arrows interestingly made this call despite winning the Constructors’ Championship that year.
However, to Russell’s credit, he took the challenge to Hamilton in his very first year with the team. The 25-year-old finished fourth in the championship with 275 points, 35 points ahead of Hamilton, who finished sixth.
As for this season, Hamilton has a slender two-point lead over Russell. It will now be interesting to see how the duo performs in the next F1 race in Australia, which will take place from March 31 to April 2.
