"He has to ask himself why George Russell is so much faster than him" - Former F1 driver says Lewis Hamilton is 'not used to' new concepts of the sport

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher believes Lewis Hamilton needs to “ask himself” why he struggled to match Mercedes teammate George Russell at the 2022 Imola GP.

If Hamilton continues to struggle in the next few races, Schumacher believes the dynamic between the two teammates will be “exciting.”

In his column for Sky Germany, the six-time Grand Prix winner wrote:

“He has to ask himself why George Russell is so much faster than him. A 13th place is of course not Hamilton’s ambition. He has to admit to himself that Russell is the better driver right now. If this continues in the next few weeks, it will be exciting in the team. There could be changes in the ranking.”

Lewis Hamilton had one of the worst weekends of his F1 career at the Imola GP and failed to score for the first time this season. A tricky session in changing conditions saw both Mercedes eliminated from Q2 during Friday's qualifying.

Russell managed a fantastic recovery throughout the Sprint and main races to secure his fourth top-five finish of this season. Meanwhile, Hamilton failed to make any meaningful progress and came home in P13.

The fact that Russell drove his entire dry stint with a wet aero balance after his team failed to change his wing angles makes his performance even more impressive.

The young Briton scythed his way through to the top five and gained another place after Charles Leclerc spun late in the race. He then brilliantly held off Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo to secure valuable points for the Silver Arrows.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton had a hard time progressing through the field, despite being in a quicker car. He was stuck behind the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Alex Albon through almost the entirety of Sunday’s race.

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Lewis Hamilton still one of the best drivers on the grid: Ralf Schumacher

Despite going through some of the toughest races in the last few months, Ralf Schumacher believes Lewis Hamilton is still one of the best drivers on the F1 grid.

Schumacher disagreed with Red Bull special advisor Helmut Marko, who had said that Hamilton should have retired at the end of last season. He feels that the seven-time world champion might just be struggling to get up to speed with F1’s new cars.

In his column for Sky Germany, he wrote:

“I’m far from saying Hamilton has missed the boat on ending his career. Lewis is still one of the best drivers in the field, that is clear.

“However, the new concepts require drivers to change a bit. Hamilton is not so used to it. Russell, on the other hand, is a young driver. They obviously cope better with it.”

While Hamilton’s Imola GP performance was abysmal, it may yet be an anomaly.

In the first three races of this season, he was much quicker than Russell in almost every metric. And given his ability to bounce back from tough results, the Briton will most likely give Russell a hard time for the rest of the season.