"He’s like the captain of the team" - George Russell refutes 'trying to be the leader' of Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton in it

George Russell recently revealed that he feels there is no need to fight his teammate Lewis Hamilton internally to come out on top as the #1 driver on the team. Given Hamilton's unmatched success and experience in the sport, Russell, who is in his first F1 season as a full-time Mercedes driver, is rather a novice.

Describing the difference between where the two drivers currently stand in terms of experience and the stages of their respective careers, George Russell told Sky Sports F1:

“I think we are at different stages of our careers, there’s no hard feelings either way. From my side, I’m 24 years old going against the greatest of all time. If he finished ahead of me, obviously I don’t like it but I won’t cry and sulk about it. Equally, from Lewis’ [Hamilton] side, he has achieved so much – he’s a seven-time World Champion, he holds records. You see it sometimes when you have two drivers who are at the same stage of their career, both fighting for…there’s no number one or number two at Mercedes but in the back of all drivers’ minds they are fighting for that top leadership spot – ‘I want to be the one’. Whereas from both of us there isn’t that.”

Emphasizing that he is not interested in coming out as a team leader against Hamilton within Mercedes, the Briton added, saying:

“Lewis [Hamilton] has been here so long. I’m the new kid at the team. I’m not going to go out there trying to be the leader of the team when I’m going up against the greatest of all time who’s been here for 10 years. He’s like the captain of the team and that’s how it should be.”

George Russell has outperformed the seven-time world champion on several occasions in the 2022 season so far. He currently stands second in the drivers' standings, nine points ahead of his teammate.

---

"It's not just the porpoising" - George Russell on the issues faced by Mercedes in 2022

Mercedes have had an unusually slow start to 2022, largely due to the porpoising issues that have occurred as a result of the design changes for the new regulations this season. George Russell, however, revealed that the significantly higher weight of the car and the efficiency of the engine could be equally important factors that come into play regarding the lack of competitiveness of Mercedes' 2022 challenger.

Detailing the issues other than porpoising, the 24-year-old told Sky Sports:

“For sure it’s not just the porpoising, there are other issues that we need to get on top of. There’s a lot of talk about the weight of the cars and we’re definitely not the lightest car on the grid, so there’s free lap time just there. We need to keep on improving the engine and try to make that more efficient, obviously you’ve got the stable regulations but there’s more we can be doing to get the most out of the engine, which I think some of the other guys are doing a slightly better job of at the moment.”

Meanwhile, the Brackley-based outfit is reportedly not bringing in any major upgrades at the Imola GP this weekend.