Mercedes will reportedly make changes to George Russell's steering wheel for F1 2022 season

Mercedes have reportedly designed a new steering wheel for George Russell that is inspired by the one used by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, ahead of the 23-year-old's arrival at the team.

This was reported by F1 technical guru Giorgio Piola for the Italian version of Motorsport.com. Ahead of the Pirelli tire test in Abu Dhabi, Mercedes made changes to their steering wheel design “tailoring” to suit Russell.

The clutch paddles on F1 cars are mainly used for starts, and on occasion to stop cars from stalling. The design of the paddles is usually tailored for each drivers’ preferences, due to their importance in race starts.

Unlike most drivers, who use two clutch paddles with different levels of slip, Hamilton uses a unique clutch design that only has one paddle. Furthermore, he also holds the paddles from the top of the steering wheel, rather than from the side.

The young Mercedes driver reportedly liked Lewis Hamilton’s steering wheel design, particularly the clutch paddle, when he substituted for the former at last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion had to sit out the race as he was found to be positive for COVID-19.

Since his debut for Mercedes was on short notice, Russell had to race with Hamilton’s car with little to no change to suit his driving style. Famously, he had to wear smaller-sized boots during the race to fit into Hamilton’s cockpit.

Come race day, Russell made an excellent start from P2 to snatch the lead from teammate Valtteri Bottas. After his return to Williams, he asked for a similar design from the team, which was delivered earlier this year.

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Helmut Marko believes Niki Lauda wouldn’t have let things get ugly between Mercedes and Red Bull

Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko feels that the late Niki Lauda wouldn’t have let the tensions escalate between Mercedes and Red Bull during the 2021 season.

In an interview with ServusTV, Dr. Marko said:

“It would not have escalated so much with Niki Lauda.”

“It would certainly have been tough because he doesn’t like to lose either. But it would have gone with more composure.”

Niki Lauda served as the non-executive chairman of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team until his death in 2019. He was a constant presence in the Mercedes garage during race weekends and often acted as the team’s mouthpiece.

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