George Russell joined Mercedes in 2022, as the team went through one of the toughest periods in its recent history, having lost the Constructors’ title for the first time in eight years.
With Mercedes struggling to adapt to the new era of regulations, finding itself off the pace of Red Bull, former Formula 1 World Champion Damon Hill has explained why Russell faces more pressure to perform than his teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Hill, now a Sky Sports presenter, believes Russell has to do the “hard work” in the coming years that Hamilton has done in previous seasons, both in the car and behind the scenes.
“George has to work very hard, he has to make himself a valued asset of the team and he’s obviously doing that pretty well,” Hill told the F1 Nation podcast.
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“He’s the one that has to do all the hard work I think Lewis doesn’t have to.
“They know what they’ve got with Lewis. They know given half a sniff of a chance Lewis is going to be back on top form and can deliver those extraordinary races.
“They know George can do that too but he has yet to prove all that. Lewis is very good, he would have sussed this out.
“He would have thought ‘I’ll let you do all the hard work George because it’s exhausting doing all this apart from anything else’,” Hill continued.
Despite the difficulties with the Mercedes last season, Russell managed to secure the team’s own victory in Brazil, while Hamilton went winless for the first seasons since he joined F1.
Russell managed to close out the 2022 by outscoring his teammate after a strong of consistent performance.
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In 2023, Russell has the chance to become the first teammate to outscore Hamilton in consecutive seasons.
Although, a DNF in Australia will make that more challenging for Russell, as he currently sits behind Hamilton in the Drivers’ Standings despite outqualifying the former world champion at every Grand Prix so far.
After three races, Hamilton is in fourth with 38 points, while Russell sits back in seventh with 18 points.