Lewis Hamilton is the only GOAT in the world of motorsports right now unlike in tennis, says George Russell

George Russell has claimed that F1 only has one “great driver” on the grid right now in Lewis Hamilton. He said that this was unlike other world-class sports such as tennis, which has three of the greatest players competing at the same time.

Speaking on the F1: Beyond the Grid podcast, the Mercedes driver said:

“Prior to this season I was thinking about tennis and watching [Rafael] Nadal win the Australian Open and just seeing how he plays and then thinking about [Roger] Federer and then thinking about [Novak] Djokovic. You’ve got probably the three greatest tennis players of all time, with three totally different approaches to their game.”

“Obviously, in the world of motorsport, there’s only Lewis [Hamilton] for now.”

Lewis Hamilton is arguably one of the greatest drivers in F1 history, with seven titles and more than 100 victories to his name. The Briton has broken every conceivable record in the sport’s history during the last few years and has even set new records of his own.

While Hamilton’s talent is unquestionable, many also argue that he had a leg up over his competition throughout the turbo-hybrid era. During the time, Mercedes consistently produced class-leading cars, while rivals Red Bull and Ferrari stumbled and failed to rise to the challenge.

Throughout that period, the only real competition Hamilton faced was from his teammates. Nevertheless, the seven-time world champion is one of the most consistent drivers on the grid, having won races in every single season that he has competed in F1.

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George Russell arrived at Mercedes accepting that he’d be slower than Lewis Hamilton

George Russell has said that he had “zero expectations” ahead of this arrival at Mercedes earlier this season and that he arrived at the team fully accepting that he’d be slower than Lewis Hamilton. He said:

“I had zero expectations. I always believed that I’d be able to get to a great potential, once I got a few races under my belt and understood the car and being able to maximise that.”

“I kind of accepted prior to the season that if I’m two tenths behind the greatest driver of all time in the opening few races, it is no big deal. If on the same pace, it’s no big deal and if I’m ahead, it’s no big deal because I’m just going to focus on myself and try and get the most out of that.”

Since his arrival, Russell has surprised himself and the rest of the F1 paddock by consistently beating Hamilton in both qualifying and on race day. The young Briton is the only driver to have finished in the top 5 in every race this season so far.