Nico Rosberg reveals Lewis Hamilton weakness, but sends George Russell a warning

George Russell became just the third team-mate of Lewis Hamilton's to beat him in a drivers' championship last season.

2016 Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg has warned George Russell not to “get too comfortable” after beating Lewis Hamilton at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the German expecting his former team-mate to “come back with a bang”.

Russell enjoyed a strong weekend at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, after having disappointed at the season-opener in Bahrain.

The former Williams driver claimed fourth in Jeddah, just one-place ahead of Hamilton.

Russell demonstrated stronger pace than the 38-year-old despite being on the hardest compound of tyre, whilst Hamilton was on the medium compound.

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Hamilton was visibly disappointed with the result after the race, with some now wondering if Russell is set to enjoy a string of races where he finishes ahead of the seven-time world champion.

Rosberg admitted that Hamilton didn’t look particularly pleased after the race and that he has a “big challenge” to get on top of his young team-mate; however, the former Mercedes driver knows that Hamilton has it in him to turn things around.

“That was just the ‘I got beat by my team-mate’ face. That’s pretty simple,” Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.

“George is the ultimate test, he is a future world champion. It is difficult for Lewis to stay in front. We saw it last year, what an awesome season George did.

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“George is continuing on that form once again. It’s going to be a big, big challenge, but let’s not forget Lewis is the best of all time so if there’s going to be someone who can beat George then it will be Lewis.”

Rosberg went on to state that Russell must take advantage of Hamilton’s current low mood, given that the 103-time race winner will “come back with a bang” at any given moment.

“No, absolutely. It’s a little bit of a weakness that Lewis has that sometimes,” added Rosberg.

“He’ll mentally go into this down a little bit and lose a little bit of flow. But he comes back with a bang every single time so dear George don’t get too comfortable.”

Russell was incredibly upbeat after the race, with the 25-year-old having hailed the Saudi Arabian GP as one of his best in the sport.

He was also in hand to congratulate Red Bull on another 1-2, with the Austrians seemingly being unbeatable as things stand.

“Give credit to what Red Bull have done,” Russell said.

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“The gap to the rest of the field is the biggest since Mercedes in 2014. It’s a serious gap, everyone needs to work harder to understand how to close that gap.

“We know we didn’t make the right decisions over the winter. We have gained more performance than you would ordinarily so everything is not lost. We will still be fighting hard, we want to win races this year, we want to be in the championship hunt.

“But we have to be realistic, focus on ourselves, and get the fundamentals right for the future. We have to take the positives away from this weekend. We qualified ahead of the Ferraris and Astons. The car is capable of that, at the moment.”