George Russell has said he could have already won at least two Formula One world championships after beating Lewis Hamilton while he was his teammate at Mercedes.
Russell joined Mercedes in 2022 as Hamilton’s team-mate, but Mercedes’ performance plummeted in the first year of the new ground effect rules, and they managed just one win as the reigning champions.
That victory went to Russell at the Brazilian Grand Prix, and he became only the third teammate to finish the season ahead of Hamilton in the drivers’ standings, collecting 275 points and taking fourth place, while Hamilton had 240 points and finished sixth. In 2023, Hamilton finished third with 234 points, while Russell was eighth with 175 points, but the following year the young Briton finished ahead of Hamilton again, having won 245 points, while Hamilton had 233, taking a place higher than Hamilton’s worst career finish [8th place].
With this result, Russell became the first teammate to finish the season ahead of Hamilton twice, while Jenson Button (2011) and Nico Rosberg (2016) only managed to do it once.
Given that Hamilton won six of the eight titles before Russell joined Mercedes, Russell believes his 2022 and 2024 seasons could yield world titles at some other time.
“Everyone is in Lewis’ shadow, being a teammate of a seven-time world champion for three years is not easy,” Russell told The Athletic.
“It used to be that if you finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton in a race or a championship, you won the race. Or, if you finished ahead of him in the championship, you won the title,” he notes.
“If I had been riding five years earlier, you could say I would have had two titles. I’m just doing my job, like I’ve been doing for the past few years.”
“I work with the same group of engineers, the same group of mechanics. Of course, Lewis was a big presence, but now that he’s gone, the day-to-day work hasn’t changed.”
“I sit at my desk in front of the computer, I warm up in my room, I get into the car, I put on my helmet. Above all, I want to control my own destiny,” added the Mercedes driver.
George Russell has started the current season extremely strongly and has been a real surprise in the first races. The Briton has established himself as a strong driver, and is getting the most out of this year’s Mercedes. George has added three podiums in the first five races. The British driver holds 4th place in the drivers’ standings with 73 points, while his former teammate has won only 31 points in Ferrari.
