3 days Ago By [email protected] (Daniel Moxon)
George Russell has rejected a Mercedes theory that Lewis Hamilton's driving style contributed to him struggling in the current generation of Formula 1 cars while he has thrived. Russell spent three years as Hamilton's team-mate until the end of 2024. And he acquitted himself very well up against the seven-time F1 champion, including finishing above his fellow Brit in their final season together while beating him comprehensively in their qualifying head-to-head.
That whole three-year period was largely difficult for Hamilton. He did not win a race throughout the whole of the 2022 and 2023 seasons before finally ending that drought with victories at Silverstone and in Belgium last year. And, last July, Mercedes' trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin suggested that Hamilton's struggles during the ground-effect era with the current generation of cars could be explained away by a clash in the 39-year-old's driving style.
Shovlin said: "He's struggled with this whole generation of car, really, not suiting his style. He's been working on how he drives. But we had a huge amount of work trying to get the car to be quicker - it just hasn't been quick enough - but also with a handling balance that the drivers can actually attack the lap on Saturday.
" Russell concedes that his own driving style seems to work well with this current crop of F1 cars. However, he rejected any suggestion that it is a major reason behind why he was able to perform so well in comparison to Hamilton during their time together. He said: "I think probably my natural driving style has worked well in these cars.
But, equally, my qualifying record against my team-mates in the previous generation was good and in every category, my qualifying records have been strong. "I don't think there's anything particular with this generation. But, obviously, Lewis has been my toughest team-mate, so I think that's why it's been highlighted a bit more.
" Russell also pointed out that he is now in a position to take more responsibility for his approach after six years as an F1 driver. He added: "You learn as the season goes on what you need to do to get the most out of the tyres, what's where you can exploit the car's strengths, where you need to be careful of the car's weaknesses. "I know exactly where the strengths and the weaknesses are and the things I need to look out for.
Nevertheless, I think everybody gains that experience as the season goes on. But also dealing with negative results - I think I've been pretty good at just closing that chapter and moving on and learning from it, whereas I think my younger self would probably dwell on something a bit longer." Catch all the action from Formula One on Sky Sports and get exclusive access to races, qualifying and much more for every Grand Prix.
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