Lewis Hamilton may be one of the best F1 drivers of all time, registering several records during his illustrious career, but George Russell may have left a huge dent in one of the seven-time champions’ records. Among the six GOAT-ed F1 drivers who have more than four world championships, Hamilton was a driver who had only lost to a teammate twice before Russell joined him at Mercedes.
However, with Russell beating Hamilton twice during their time as teammates, the 40-year-old has slipped to the bottom of the list for having the highest tally of losing to a teammate on points in a season, per a post on Reddit. Above him are Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher, with both drivers having lost in three seasons to their teammates.
Alain Prost is second on the list, having lost in two seasons to his teammate. Meanwhile, Juan Manuel Fangio and Max Verstappen lead the list, having lost just in one season to their teammate. Now, ranking lower in this record list of the elite multiple world champions doesn’t diminish Hamilton’s caliber at all.
Lewis Hamilton has been beaten by points more often than any other driver with at least 4 world championships by their teammates
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In fact, before Russell came along, the former McLaren driver had only lost to world champions, namely Jenson Button in 2011 and Nico Rosberg in 2016. So, it was a surprise that Russell beat Hamilton, for which the 26-year-old deserves a lot of plaudits.
As a caveat though, Mercedes’ struggles with the ground-effect car concept and Hamilton’s experimentation tendency to find a more competitive setup were also some key factors that handicapped his progress in the two seasons he fell short against Russell.
How Hamilton struggled against Russell
Hamilton was often the volunteer who willingly offered to experiment with setups for Mercedes in the past three seasons. Meanwhile, Russell often ran the optimal available setup, which helped him rack up more points and podiums than the seven-time world champion.
As a result, the #63 driver often out-qualified Hamilton. Particularly in 2024, Russell was way better than his much more experienced teammate over a single lap as he beat the #44 driver by a staggering margin of 19-5 in Grand Prix qualifying.
However, over the course of their three-season stint together, Hamilton cumulatively scored more points than the 26-year-old. Hamilton scored 697, while Russell scored 695 in this same duration.
The reason behind this was the 2023 season when Russell had an underwhelming year with mixed-bag results. On the other hand, Hamilton finished third in the drivers’ championship standings, way ahead of his teammate who was in a lowly P8.
