George Russell on being teammates with Lewis Hamilton: "I have held my own"

Goerge Russell feels that his ability to hold his own against Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes gives him the confidence to perform at his current level.

Russell recently spoke to Beyond the Grid about the challenges of driving alongside a legend like Hamilton.

The two drivers have been paired together at Mercedes since 2022. The first season saw Lewis Hamilton get outscored by George Russell as a teammate. In that season, Russell also secured his first-ever win and pole position as well.

The 2023 F1 season has not been as good for the 25-year-old, with the Brit being outscored significantly by Hamilton so far. Having said that, the driver still feels he's held his own against his teammate. Russell told the Beyond the Grid podcast:

“I don’t think I’ve ever been pushed in my whole career like I’ve been pushed in the last year and a half so to see that I’m swimming and swimming well gives me so much faith in myself and so much confidence."

He added:

"There’s sort of no doubt now that I truly believe in myself and the team believes in me. And that’s been really down to the fact that being team-mates with Lewis and I have held my own, so that now I can just focus on my job and go out there week in, week out and just try and maximize the performance.”

Lewis Hamilton gives George Russell the benchmark of the level at which to perform

Russell said that, according to him, there were around five drivers on the F1 grid that could probably do what Max Verstappen has done in Red Bull this season, with Lewis Hamilton being one of them. Russell added that he gains a lot of confidence in his own ability knowing Hamilton's caliber as a driver, given his own perofrmance compared to the seven-time World Champion.

“I can very, very confidently sit here and say there’s probably five drivers on this grid that you put them in the best car, they will win the championship. I have no doubt about that. Of course, Lewis [Hamilton] is one of those guys and if I’m going head to head with him week in week out, you know, that gives me the benchmark."

Russell will be looking forward to the race Austin as he tries to build on his recent momentum in races. The United States Grand Prix will be in action at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend, October 20-22.