George Russell has been hailed for ‘stamping his authority’ in his debut season as a permanent Mercedes driver alongside Lewis Hamilton. Russell’s consistency in a challenging year for the Silver Arrows has garnered plaudits, with former F1 world champion Damon Hill the latest to rave about his performance.
The 24-year-old arrived at Mercedes after three seasons of trailing at the back of the grid with Williams. And he had the daunting task of battling with a seven-time world champion hungry for vengeance in Lewis Hamilton after the events at the end of the 2021 season in Abu Dhabi.
But he’s thrived, despite having to drive the troublesome W13 car, achieving top-five finishes in every race bar three. With four races left this season, Russell is behind Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc in fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, 27 points ahead of Hamilton in sixth.
And Hill has celebrated Russell’s maiden year, lauding him for avoiding getting ‘crushed’ by the pressure of being the teammate of a driver as decorated as Hamilton, as many have been before. He told the F1 Nation podcast: “George Russell has come in, and he’s come into this very difficult situation.
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“It really is putting your head in the lion’s mouth. He’s absolutely stamped his authority and credentials on this team and also as a viable contender and a viable teammate to Lewis Hamilton. There are not many people that have managed not to be crushed by that relationship. And Lewis has had some bad luck this year. Maybe he wasn’t all there at the start of the season for good reasons, but he’s coming back.”
Hamilton has closed the gap on Russell in the last couple of races, and the pair are now engaged in one of the most interesting end-of-season duels, with the title already wrapped up. Hill believes the latter needs to go up a gear if he’s to hold onto his lead against a recently resurgent Hamilton.
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“When Lewis has started to be more motivated, which he seems to be this latter half of the season, sniffing the opportunities of better results, I think George is starting to find out quite what a competitor Lewis is,” Hill continued.
“His shine, although he’s ahead on points, I think that Lewis is definitely creeping and recovering those points gradually over the last few races of the season. So he needs to double down a little bit, and his first season with this team has been absolutely fantastic. Outstanding, and he’s shown what a quality driver he is – definitely got championship potential.”
