Lewis Hamilton will have a “demanding” teammate in George Russell, claims Williams boss

Williams F1 boss Jost Capito believes that Lewis Hamilton will have a “demanding” teammate in George Russell from the upcoming season. The German feels Russell, with his approach and his raw pace, could potentially make the seven-time world champion’s life difficult in a “positive way”.

Speaking of his experiences working with the young British driver in an interview with Express, Capito said:

“I think George has huge respect from all the team members and he is demanding.”

“If he wants to get something done on the car, he really pushes, and if he wants to get something done in the team, he is pushing but always in a very positive way.”

“I never heard a bad word from him all year, still being very direct in what he wants and what he expects. I think that is a fantastic attitude of George.”

George Russell made a one-off appearance for Mercedes at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. He replaced Lewis Hamilton after the latter tested positive for COVID-19. Russell reportedly applied the lessons he learned from the Brackley team at Williams.

Russell liked Lewis Hamilton’s clutch paddle in particular, which helped him get off to a stunning start in Sakhir to overtake Valtteri Bottas for the lead. After returning to Williams, Russell demanded a similar clutch paddle in his car, which the team obliged to do at the start of the season.

Despite his demanding nature, Capito feels that Russell is “incredibly polite” and a “nice guy” who is direct, but easy to work with. Furthermore, he also feels that Russell often puts the team ahead of his own success.

Speaking of Russell’s approach in Hungary last season, when Williams broke their duck and finally scored points for the first time in two seasons, Capito said:

“He is a really great team player as well. He knows that he wants to win, and he wants to be the best, but he always is thinking about his teammate as well.”

“Once in the race when he was behind and the strategy was that he pits first, he came on the radio and said, ‘let’s put the focus on Nicky and give the best for him’ and that was not he was asked for.”

“Whatever he’s thinking about this during the race, he’s only thinking about the team in general and also about his teammate. I think his personal attitude is absolutely fantastic.”

George Russell also successfully one-upped his future team-mate Lewis Hamilton this year at the Belgian Grand Prix. The young Briton pipped the seven-time world champion to P2 in a rain-washed race at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

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George Russell hoping to “work together” for the team with Lewis Hamilton in 2022

Incoming Mercedes driver George Russell believes the best way to start his Mercedes career would be to co-operate with seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton. The young Brit says that his focus will be on developing the car for the season, after the sweeping regulations, to ensure that they are the “fastest” across the season.

Speaking about his expectations for the upcoming season with the multiple world champions in an interview with Express, Russell said:

“I think we go in there (and) we need to help each other because the cars are just going to be developing so much, race after race.”

“It’s not who has the quickest car at race one, it’s who has the quickest car throughout the whole season.”

“And, as drivers, we need to work together with the team to move us forward as one, and that’s going to be the key.”

Russell feels that he and Lewis Hamilton are at different periods in their career and that he will work to maintain the “huge amount of respect” they have for each other.

Meanwhile, Mercedes has been teasing its W13 car for this season in social media posts. The Brackley-based team seems to be readying its car at the earliest for the Lewis Hamilton and George Russell pairing. Their primary focus would probably be to ensure a record-breaking eighth title for Lewis Hamilton this year.