Hamilton hints at Mercedes swap after thrilling Russell battle

Lewis Hamilton has hinted at a potential Mercedes swap with George Russell after their thrilling battle in the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The two finished fourth and fifth in the race after a pulsating scrap with saw Russell hold Hamilton off for multiple laps before the seven-time F1 champion finally scythed past into Turn 1 with five laps remaining. 

Hamilton was using the newer specification of Mercedes upgrades with Russell on the Silverstone spec after crashing in the United States the week before and destroying his set of upgrades.

Boss Toto Wolff has hinted Hamilton feels more comfortable on the older parts, which means heading to Brazil for the São Paulo Grand Prix this weekend, Mercedes could swap specifications of car - something Hamilton indicated might be possible after the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

"It was always going to happen at some point, I think he had a problem with his wing, but we got a lot of information," he told media including RacingNews365.

"I could see where he was better than me, and package-wise, hopefully, the team has lots of data, so we will figure out who starts on what next week.

"I don't think either of us is silly. George is pretty smart, so it was fair and he is pretty good at where he places his car, and me as well.

"So when they came onto the radio to say keep it clean, it was like, 'Of course'. It makes no real difference when you're fighting anyone else, except as it is your team-mate, you need to be double-careful."

Hamilton's race

Russell had out-qualified Hamilton, but the elder Briton muscled past at the start, despite suffering from understeer induced by a late front-wing tweak.

"I had fun, had a good start but took too much front-wing out in the first stint, I had massive understeer," Hamilton explained.

"You have to guesstimate where to be with the front wing, I had a lot less than George. It felt like the right thing to do, but it was completely not.

"After my stop, I was able to rectify it. I had better pace and was able to push and keep going."