“He’s more experienced than I am” – George Russell is in awe of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and expects the latter to go for glory yet again this season.
Lewis Hamilton had a disappointing end to his 2021 season, seeing the title snatched away from him by Max Verstappen in the penultimate lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
This led to the Mercedes driver considering quitting the sport, with his absence from social media glaring. He did return though, something that has delighted Mercedes newbie George Russell.
Russell has done a lot of preparation starting from January, unlike Hamilton, who confirmed his stay only in February. Despite this, the former feels that doesn’t give him any advantage over the seven-time champion.
Lewis is a fighter, he’s a racer.
“His absolute main priority is to be the best version of himself when he hits the track in Bahrain for race one.
“He’s more experienced than I am. He knows what it takes to be a World Champion and he knows what preparation he needs over the course of a pre-season to prepare himself best for that first race.
“Everybody’s different. I’ll have a different approach probably to Lewis, he’ll have a different approach to another driver, and that’s for all of the Formula 1 drivers.
“You need to learn what is best for you and respect how each individual does that.”
Toto Wolff on his Mercedes drivers
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is pumped up for the season and expects Russell and Hamilton to deliver the goods. He is optimistic of good team chemistry, a la Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
“This year, the interesting situation is we have in George the up-and-coming star [in one seat], and undoubtedly the best Formula 1 driver ever in the other seat.
“So the dynamic is new and clearly it’s something that we will try to steer in a direction that has the most positive effect on developing the car and making us overall competitive.”
