'Frustrated' Hamilton fired Mercedes warning with Russell 'getting stronger'

06 April 2023 , 15:36

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George Russell will want to outperform Lewis Hamilton for a second consecutive F1 season (Image: Frank Augstein/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

Lewis Hamilton sees team-mate George Russell as a genuine threat to his unofficial status as top dog at Mercedes.

That is the view of former Formula 1 racer Johnny Herbert, who believes Russell has what it takes to outshine the seven-time world champion this season. And his Lift The Lid podcast partner Billy Monger thinks a battle between the Brits can only be a good thing for their team.

Russell joined the Silver Arrows expecting to be competing for the title, but had his hopes dashed when it became clear the team's 2022 car was not as competitive as expected. Scrapping for all the points he could, the Norfolk-born racer finished 35 points ahead of Hamilton.

This year he is gunning to become the first F1 driver ever to get the better of Hamilton in consecutive seasons as his team-mate. Herbert believes he can do it, and thinks Russell's achievements last year will have made his more experienced partner take the threat very seriously.

"George is doing that very well at the moment. Does the car suit him more? Maybe, but I don't think that's really the story," the former Sky Sports pundit told Mirror Sport. "The story is that they're not competitive, but George is getting stronger and stronger.

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"Lewis, as a human, he will always be frustrated that he's still not beating him every time he goes on the track like he's used to. It's a totally different scenario and there's a changing of the guard at this present time, with the younger generation getting stronger and stronger – Max [Verstappen], for example.

Russell beat Hamilton to Mercedes' only race win of 2022 in Brazil (AFP via Getty Images)

"But it also goes back to [Russell's victory] last season in Brazil. George had a cracking race that weekend, he's been showing the signs we saw many times last season where he was showing his raw pace and, when the opportunity came, he damn delivered. That's the thing that Lewis will always look at and think, 'This guy is a threat. This guy is difficult'.

"As he does more races and seasons in Formula 1, he's only going to get faster and faster. You can't rule out Lewis, for sure, because if they suddenly find the right ingredients for this car to go a second per lap faster, for example, then he will get to that level very easily because that's what he does. But I think George will – I don't think George will have a problem if the level goes up.

"He's already shown that when they had the car to do the job, bam – he was able to do it. So that's not a worry that will be in his head, and it's for sure not in mine. Good on him, and we're both happy that we've got another Brit coming to the fore and he's going to be a very, very difficult man to beat, given the right car."

Hamilton's Melbourne podium means he has a 20-point lead over Russell, who suffered an engine failure (Hasan Bratic/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

Monger, a former British F3 and Euroformula racer who is part of Channel 4's F1 presenting team, thinks we won't see the very best of either driver until Mercedes are back in the title hunt. He said: "The reality is, [your team-mate] is the only person you can be compared to on a fair basis, so that's the number one person you're worried about beating.

"If you're George and you're beating Lewis consistently, then you know everybody is going to be singing your praises no matter where you're finishing. If the car isn't good enough to win then you can't help that. I think it's good that we've got good pairings with those teams at the front because that's good competition.

"Until you fight for a world championship I don't think it will spiral into anything else and, at the minute, it seems like good, fair competition between the two of them. Plus, if they're not pushing each other, then how can Mercedes expect themselves to get back to the front of the grid? You need to be pushing each other so it's a good thing to see."

Listen to Billy and Johnny's Lift The Lid on Apple Podcasts.

Daniel Moxon