George Russell has detailed his working relationship with Formula 1 teammate Lewis Hamilton after their first season together at Mercedes. Following a three-year spell at Williams, Russell was promoted to Mercedes for 2022 by boss Toto Wolff to partner seven-time World Champion Hamilton. In a difficult season for the team, Russell became just the third teammate to ever finish ahead of Hamilton in the standings, following Jenson Button in 2011 and Nico Rosberg in 2016. The younger Briton also claimed the only Pole Position (Hungary) and race win (Brazil) for the team as they fell to third in the Constructors' following eight years of dominance. But despite their troubles on-track, Russell praised Hamilton's efforts off it to maintain morale within the trackside team and back at their Brackley base.
Russell explains Hamilton relationship
"The relationship has been harmonious," Russell explained in an end of year Mercedes review of his first campaign alongside Hamilton. "What impressed me the most with Lewis is seeing how he works with the team, how he gets the most out of the people around him, how he continues to keep morale high when moments are tough. "Ultimately, I already knew how damn fast he is and how much of a challenge it is being teammates with a guy like him. "Having Lewis in my mirrors [after the Brazil safety restart] – knowing he was only 1.3 seconds behind me - made it an incredibly high-pressure situation. "I had my engineer Riki [Musconi] giving me those gaps lap after lap, just knowing that I couldn’t make a single mistake as that would have given him an opportunity to pounce. "The moment I crossed that line it was a huge relief. "Knowing that we accomplished that victory as a team, but also for myself on a personal level knowing that I had handled that situation and handled that pressure was something I was very proud of."
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