Mercedes needs to 'talk up' George Russell a lot more as Lewis Hamilton leaves for Ferrari, according to Damon Hill

Damon Hill feels the time has come for Mercedes to 'talk up' George Russell a lot more as Lewis Hamilton leaves for Ferrari. The previous race in Canada saw George be the lead driver within the team with a noticeable advantage over his teammate.

While George Russell qualified on pole, Lewis Hamilton was in P7. In the race, George battled the likes of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in his attempt to win. While the driver failed to do that, he did achieve the team's first podium of the season after he overtook his teammate with two laps to go in the race.

On Sky Sports' F1 podcast, Damon Hill gave his view on the situation at Mercedes.

Hill felt that the time has come for the team to back George Russell more, as he should have taken over from Lewis Hamilton by this time. However, with team boss Toto Wolff focusing on other drivers, including Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli, as possible options to replace Hamilton, it has left George on his own, according to Hill.

Advocating that the team needs to back their current driver and talk him up, he said,

“Nobody’s perfect are they? You get to the sharp end, you get the focus, everyone’s watching everything you do and criticising everything much more viciously, or at least being observant of any failure at all. I think it can be slightly undermining if you’re getting coached by your team boss over the radio during race, being told to focus."

"I think he knows what he’s doing, to quote a famous racing driver. But I do think that this is a problem for George because he’s been there at Mercedes, they haven’t had a great run, but he is definitely doing the job for them. Lewis is off to Ferrari next year, and he is trying to establish himself as the lead driver. And he’s yet to achieve that, I think because they’re talking all the time about who’s going to be his teammate for next year rather than talking up George," Hill added.

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George Russell can deliver at Mercedes: Hill

Damon Hill feels that George Russell has all the speed and talent in the world to deliver for Mercedes. The driver has been part of the team for three years now.

Hill believes that now is the perfect time for the team to start backing the young driver and make him more comfortable within the squad. He said,

“I think Mercedes ought to back him a bit harder. They ought to give him a bit more confidence and then he doesn’t perhaps have to try so hard to prove himself in the race because it seems to me he’s trying to compensate a little bit for stuff. I think he needs to cool it. He’s got the speed, he’s got the abilities, he’s very intelligent. I’m sure he can deliver for them if they give him a bit more comfort there.”

George Russell has been impressive this season at Mercedes. The young driver has now out-qualified and outperformed his illustrious teammate in the first nine races and has surely proved himself as the successor of Lewis Hamilton at the Silver Arrows.