Lewis Hamilton no longer Mercedes' #1 driver for fans after George Russell's sensational season

Lewis Hamilton was recently outvoted by F1 fans as they chose George Russell as the #1 driver for Mercedes. Though the seven-time world champion has been with the Brackley-based team for over a decade, Russell's sensational performance in the 2022 F1 season has somewhat diminished Hamilton's dominance.

In a recent poll conducted by Express Sports, 57.6% of people feel that Russell has overtaken Hamilton and is now the #1 driver at Mercedes. Meanwhile, only 42.4% of them think that the seven-time world champion is still at the helm of the team. Of course, this poll does not contain votes from every F1 fan, but it shows how people are gradually leaning towards Russell.

The young Briton outscored Lewis Hamilton in the 2022 driver standings by 35 points. He also won his first F1 race in Brazil, while Hamilton's streak of winning at least one race every season came to an end.

With Max Verstappen continuing to dominate the sport after 2021 and Russell being the future of Mercedes, it feels like Hamilton's domination era has finally come to an end. Even though he is still hungry to win another world title before retiring, it looks highly unlikely because of all the young drivers who are gradually taking the top spot.

Hamilton, however, will be working extremely hard with Mercedes for the 2023 F1 season as the team tries to claw its way back to the top.

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Toto Wolff praises George Russell and Lewis Hamilton for being strong drivers

Even after a tough 2022 F1 season, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is quite happy with his driver line-up. He praised both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton for being extremely strong and 'alpha' in their nature. Being one of the top teams in F1, Mercedes would not accept its drivers as being weak.

Toto Wolff said:

"They are both alpha drivers and this is good. We don't want a puppy in the car. We manage that as well as we can."

George Russell also spoke about his first season with Mercedes, claiming the extreme work ethic and level of performance in the team made the young Briton feel like a rookie once again. He explained how he learned loads of things about the sport for the first time and how it helped him get the most out of his car, saying:

"In some ways I've felt like a bit of a rookie this year because the level at which this team operates on is a level that I've never experienced before, and I'm talking about things that I'd never even heard of in F1 before. That took me some time to learn and understand how to get the most out of the team, out of the car."

After a disappointing 2022 season, the Brackley-based team will be hungry to fight their way back to the top. Both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will be working together like they did last year to lift the team.