George Russell has done tremendously well to get the better of Lewis Hamilton for the second time in their three seasons as teammates. In 2024, his qualifying pace in particular has been miles clear of the seven-time world champion, who is himself known for his supreme one-lap pace.
However, the way Russell outperformed Hamilton this season led to several fans and some experts claiming that Mercedes may be deliberately sabotaging the 39-year-old’s season as he will join rivals Ferrari next year. Former Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, though, disagrees with such claims.
“I am pretty sure they didn’t,” were the words of Rosberg on the Sky Sports F1 podcast when one of his fellow experts claimed that there was a possibility Mercedes were favoring Russell, who is the team’s long-term future leader. Rosberg used an anecdote from the recently concluded Abu Dhabi GP to explain why he disagrees.
The German former driver highlighted the moment in the race when Mercedes boss Toto Wolff came on the radio to motivate Hamilton to chase down Russell. The Austrian gave this encouragement to the seven-time world champion when he was 14 seconds behind Russell and feared that he may not be able to catch his teammate.
Wolff said, “You can do this”, highlighting that the 52-year-old and the rest of his Mercedes team backed Hamilton till the very end. While Rosberg believes that there is ample evidence to suggest that Mercedes did not favor Russell, he believes that there is another reason why the Silver Arrows could not afford to sabotage Hamilton.
Rosberg explains why Mercedes could never sabotage Hamilton
During the same podcast, Rosberg explained how Mercedes would have gained a very bad image had they even tried to favor Russell over Hamilton. The German believes that Hamilton, being a seven-time world champion, has such a huge image today that Mercedes would not want to damage their relationship with him or his fans.
“They were under a lot of pressure, the team, because…a lot of fans, every time Lewis gets beaten by George, a lot of fans are like sabotage, so the pressure was on Mercedes,” Rosberg explained. “And for Toto, it was so important to show the world that there was no preferential treatment towards George”.
After the chequered flag at the Abu Dhabi GP, which was Hamilton’s last race for Mercedes, emotions ran high in the Brackley outfit’s camp. However, none were perhaps more emotional than Hamilton and Wolff, who enjoyed the highest of successes together during the turbo-hybrid era.
So, after Hamilton crossed the finish line, both had nothing but good things to say for each other. “I love you, guys. I really really do,” said Hamilton, to which Wolff replied, “We love you too and you’re always going to be a part of that family. And if we can’t win, you should win”.
