George Russell did not draw back from voicing his true ideas on Lewis Hamilton.
George Russell made some brutally sincere feedback about Lewis Hamilton (Picture: Getty)
George Russell says he nonetheless has lots of respect for Lewis Hamilton regardless of calling his 2025 season with Ferrari a “stinker”. Becoming a member of Mercedes as Hamilton’s team-mate for the 2022 marketing campaign marked a dream-come-true for Russell.
He grew up idolising the seven-time world champion, with the pair expressing mutual admiration throughout their three years collectively at Mercedes between 2022 and 2024. Their partnership was amicable for a lot of that interval earlier than Hamilton joined rivals Ferrari forward of the 2025 season. Russell went on to get pleasure from two race victories final yr whereas Hamilton’s maiden marketing campaign with the Prancing Horse was a calamity. The Ferrari driver usually voiced his frustrations with the woeful SF-25 and did not safe a single Grand Prix podium place, showing more and more dejected all through 2025.
He drifted between slamming his race engineer on the crew radio to placing the blame on himself, even calling himself “ineffective” and saying Ferrari wanted to interchange him. Hamilton went on to explain final season as his “worst ever”, one thing Russell didn’t maintain again in agreeing with.
Talking in a recently-released episode of Drive to Survive’s eighth season, the Mercedes star didn’t mince his phrases when delivering his evaluation of Hamilton’s debut marketing campaign with the Italian outfit. Russell was proven saying within the docu-series: “I really like Lewis. I’ve a lot respect for him, however I feel it’s no secret he’s having a little bit of a stinker, and it’s a bit powerful to see.”
Russell’s tone and the pair’s relationship to this point point out this wasn’t a lot a swipe, however real concern and maybe even misery in direction of Hamilton’s dire scenario. Regardless of their rising rivalry at Mercedes on the observe and the latter’s determination to go away for a direct competitor, their mutual respect has all the time been clear to see, even when Russell started to outperform the racing icon.
The 28-year-old out-scored his legendary rival in two of their three seasons as team-mates, together with his debut season. In these years, there was the added background pressure of the Silver Arrows falling behind Crimson Bull.
Russell and Hamilton had lots of respect for one another at Mercedes (Picture: Getty)
One uncommon second the place these tensions seemingly spilt over was throughout Q3 of the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, when Russell was left lower than impressed along with his veteran team-mate. Dialling into the crew radio, he fumed: “What the f*** was Lewis doing, prepping that lap?” His race engineer tried to defuse the scenario by responding: “He simply… it’s nice. We’ll speak about it afterwards. Head within the recreation.”
Nevertheless, he performed down the incident afterwards, saying: “Clearly, we’re within the second and whenever you’re attempting to get every little thing [right], you are a bit hotheaded. However nothing gained, nothing misplaced and there was nothing extra to it.”
One other reason behind friction may have been Hamilton’s departure to Ferrari, which he had introduced previous to the 2024 season, whereas he nonetheless drove for Mercedes. That daring transfer later led to Hamilton suggesting Mercedes had been giving his fellow Brit preferential therapy. He expressed his frustration with Mercedes in Could, saying he’d had sufficient of “toiling” additional down the grid and slammed the crew’s technique on the Monaco Grand Prix over the radio.
Hamilton’s first season with Ferrari was an enormous let down (Picture: Getty)
“I do not anticipate being forward of George in qualifying, notably this yr, however we have simply bought to maintain pushing, and the races are sturdy,” Hamilton vented. His feedback had been in relation to lacking out on a brand new entrance wing, which he allowed Russell to take as there was only one out there on the time.
Russell performed down Hamilton’s remarks by claiming his frustrations bought the higher of him in the course of the rant. Chatting with Channel 4, Russell stated: “I feel that was in all probability feedback within the warmth of the second as a result of he is aware of full nicely that we get the identical therapy.
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“Lewis is a winner, and naturally, these years have been irritating for all of us, however particularly for him. He is been used to successful each single season he competes in, and hasn’t received in three years. In order I stated, it is irritating for him, it is irritating for all of us, however I am positive he did not imply it because it got here throughout.”
However that, by F1 requirements, all factors in direction of a really tame rivalry throughout three years of intense competitors, particularly given a few of Hamilton’s previous grievances with team-mates. Russell will undoubtedly be amongst these rooting for Hamilton to get pleasure from a greater 2026, so long as he himself is forward on the observe.
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