George Russell has expressed his desire to “work together” with Lewis Hamilton with the pair set to form an intriguing partnership in the 2022 Formula One season. Russell, 24, joined Mercedes from Williams at the end of last season and promptly expressed his desire to challenge for the status of the team’s No 1 driver.
Pundits have already voiced fears of history repeating itself, with Hamilton and former partner Nico Rosberg famously sharing a tempestuous relationship during their four seasons together at Toto Wolff’s team.
Three of those campaigns saw the pair become embroiled in heated title battles, with Hamilton, now 37, prevailing in both 2014 and 2015.
However, it was Rosberg who held on to win his sole world championship in 2016, after which he surprisingly announced his retirement from the sport.
The ill-feeling was often evident, with Rosberg famously quipping that they often came “pretty close” to exchanging blows.
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“F1 developed this rule-set with the idea that they were going to be around four seconds slower, but we’re already hearing from every single team they’re far, far faster than that.
“We hope Mercedes will still be the fastest team, the fastest car on the grid but there are no guarantees. We need to not be naive to that, and work together to ensure that we are.”
Russell has driven for Mercedes before, replacing Hamilton at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix after the iconic figure had tested positive for Covid-19.
He eventually finished ninth in that race but had been in contention until tyre problems scuppered his chances late on, but the expectation will be greater when the same venue opens up the new campaign on the weekend of March 18-20.
Team principal Wolff said he was confident that his team, Constructors’ champions for the past eight seasons, would get the balance between drivers competing, and working together, just right.
“I have no doubt that we can create an environment of partnership between the two, of productivity to develop this new car which will be essential, whilst maintaining a healthy competition that will motivate them and the wider team.”
Pre-season testing begins in Barcelona on Wednesday.
