Lewis Hamilton Once Concealed Laughing on George Russell’s ‘Textbook’ Answer on How to Keep Motivation

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell went through a rough patch from 2022 to 2024 because Mercedes failed to nail the ground-effect era regulations and produce a strong car. For Russell, this was an unfortunate continuation of bad luck in his F1 career.

The #63 driver left Williams at the end of 2021 to join Mercedes with the hope that he would be regularly competing for wins, but what he found was that the side was often in the doldrums. Naturally, he’s suffered more lows than highs compared to his then-seven-time world champion teammate, which could have resulted in a loss of motivation for the former Williams driver.

Despite Mercedes’ struggles, Russell often found a silver lining that kept him motivated. “I think it’s seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and the progress you’re making as a team,” Russel replied while answering a fan question in a 2023 segment about how he keeps himself motivated.

Hamilton, concealing his laughter at Russell’s tactful response, agreed with his then-teammate and simply replied, “Textbook“. However, if fans would have followed Hamilton’s radio communications with his team about how poor the Mercedes cars were, they may have had a different opinion.

They may feel that Hamilton is hiding his emotions and is afraid to share an honest response. After all, he has years of media training. And Russell may have grasped some learnings from one of the all-time greats as well during their three years at Mercedes. After all, Russell idolized Hamilton and wanted to have a career just like the now 40-year-old.

When Russell chased Hamilton for his autograph

As a young kid growing up, dreaming to make it to Formula 1, Russell was always in awe of Hamilton. The seven-time champion burst onto the scene with McLaren in 2007 and went on to win his first title the very next year. Then, with Mercedes, he forged a dynasty that would see him rack up six more driver’s titles.

And seeing any driver have such a meteoric rise was bound to catch the eyes of aspiring young drivers at the time. Russell showcased his love for Hamilton by trying to get an autograph of the then-McLaren driver.

Although Russell could not, the post yet went viral soon after he joined Hamilton at Brackley in 2022. It took more than a decade for Russell’s wish to come true. As seen in the video above, the #63 driver finally got Hamilton’s autograph on a copy of the seven-time champion’s autobiography last year.