George Russell makes extraordinary F1 world champion claim

George Russell has claimed he could have already won at least two F1 world championships after defeating Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

Russell joined Mercedes in 2022 to partner Hamilton, but Mercedes' fortunes plummeted in the first year of the ground-effects rules as the reigning champions took only a single grand prix win.

This was for Russell in Sao Paulo, but he became just the third team-mate to finish ahead of Hamilton in the drivers' standings, taking 275 points and fourth place to Hamilton's 240 and sixth place.

In 2023, Hamilton finished third on 234 points to Russell's 175 and eighth place before the younger Briton once again finished ahead by 245-233 points and one place higher than Hamilton's career-worst eighth place.

This result made Russell the first team-mate to finish ahead of Hamilton twice, with Jenson Button (2011) and Nico Rosberg (2016) only doing so once.

Given that Hamilton had won six of the eight championships on offer before Russell joined Mercedes, he believes that his 2022 and 2024 seasons could have yielded world titles in another era.

"Everybody is in Lewis’s shadow, being team-mates with a seven-time world champion for three years is not straightforward,” Russell told The Athletic. 

"There was once a time that if you finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton in a championship or in a race, you’d win the race. Or, if you finish ahead of the championship, you’d win the championship.

"If my time was five years prior, you could argue I’d have two championships to my name.

"I’m just going about my business, as I have been the last couple of years.

"I’m working with the same group of engineers, the same group of mechanics. Obviously, Lewis was such a large presence that you know that he’s not around.

"But on the day-to-day running of things, it is no different, I'm sat at my desk in front of my computer.

"I do my warm-up in my room, I jump in my race car, I put my helmet on. I want to control my own destiny first and foremost."