"Lewis and I need to work together" – George Russell keen to avoid any battle with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton can rest easy knowing his new teammate George Russell is not looking to pick a fight with the seven-time world champion. The 24-year-old wants to work in tandem with Hamilton for Mercedes' betterment as the pair embark on a new era of F1 in 2022.

A host of regulatory changes coming into F1 are expected to disrupt the status quo on the grid. Russell knows that working together with Lewis Hamilton will be a better tactic over infighting within the team. During a media briefing, he was asked if he could match Hamilton's pace right off the block. Russell said:

“It’s something I’ve not even thought about, to be honest, because my main goal is to make sure I have the teams and the car around me for developing the car in a quick direction to give us the best opportunity over the course of the next two, three, four years. We’ve seen the development rate, we hear rumours from all the other teams of how much they’re developing.”

The former Williams driver went on to add:

“You’ve got to remember Formula 1 developed this ruleset with the idea they [the cars] were going to be around four seconds slower, and we’re already hearing from every single team that they’re going to be far, far faster than that. Lewis and I need to work together, we can’t focus too much on each other because things are constantly changing and that’s why we need to take a step back. We hope Mercedes will still be the fastest team, the fastest car on the grid but there are no guarantees and we need to not be naive to that and to work together to ensure we are.”

Russell joined the Silver Arrows to replace Valtteri Bottas. The Finn was perhaps Lewis Hamilton's most pliant teammate in recent history and poles apart from his predecessor, Nico Rosberg.

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George Russell saw childhood hero Lewis Hamilton as a 'superhero'

George Russell has confessed that as a child, he felt Lewis Hamilton 'was a superhero'. The 24-year-old now feels 'privileged' to be driving for Mercedes alongside whom he calls 'the best'.

Speaking during the launch event of the Mercedes W13, the 24-year-old said:

“It’s definitely surreal and I think we have all seen the photo of Lewis [Hamilton] and I when I was 10 years old. I think we have both changed quite a lot since then and it’s incredible to see. Obviously, I was a young kid aspiring to reach Formula 1 and Lewis was, obviously, world champion at the time and Lewis was a superhero to me you know.”

Russell signed a mega $6.76 million contract to move to the Silver Arrows and is being touted by many as the future of the team.