Last teammate to beat Lewis Hamilton praises George Russell for a successful debut campaign with Mercedes

Race winner George Russell of Great Britain and Mercedes, Second placed Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes and Third placed Carlos Sainz of Spain and Ferrari celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 13, 2022 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton's former teammate Nico Rosberg praised George Russell's performance in his first year as a Mercedes driver in 2022. The Briton was excellent on the grid and finished ahead of his teammate, the seven-time World Champion, in the Driver Standings.

However, Rosberg sympathized with Hamilton because of the poor overall performance of the W13, which gave the team one of their lowest-rated seasons. In a YouTube video where he ranked his top 5 drivers for the 2022 season, Rosberg said:

"It's his first year at Mercedes, an incredibly consistent year with such a difficult car. They got the car so wrong at the beginning of the season. They were trying to figure it out doing different set-ups and everything, he was just always there."

The 2022 season was a tricky one for Mercedes, as their car couldn't compete at the top of the grid in the early parts of the season. Lewis Hamilton even called out the car "undriveable" as his season ended without a single victory.

George Russell, meanwhile, managed to outperform his teammate and also won the Brazilian Grand Prix. This gave him a 35-point lead over the 37-year-old. Russell became the third driver in Formula 1 history to beat Hamilton with equal machinery, which was last achieved by Rosberg in 2016.

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Rosberg mentions Lewis Hamilton's "special days"

Although Russell outperformed Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg still talked about some "special days" that Lewis Hamilton had. He mentioned the races where the Briton dominated the grid and stated that although no one else could come close to him, Russell was always close-by. He said:

"Lewis always has these special days, very often, when he's just untouchable. And even then, George was always right behind him at the very least, and if not in front of him."

At the same time, he spoke about the hard time the former World Champion had this season. There were races where small errors led to big consequences, such as the one in Belgium, where a collision with Fernando Alonso on the first lap of the race forced him to retire.

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The team will be looking forward to a more competitive 2023 season with the development of the Mercedes W14, buoyed by the fact that both drivers performed better in the latter stages of the season.