Toto Wolff: Lewis Hamilton 'doesn't need any prioritization' over George Russell for 2022 F1 Abu Dhabi GP

Lewis Hamilton is painfully close to breaking his record of having won at least one Grand Prix every season he has raced in so far, given that this weekend F1 will be heading to the Yas Marina Circuit for the Abu Dhabi GP.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff claims that the Briton is not going to rely on team orders to maintain this record and potentially take a win at the expense of his teammate George Russell. The latter erased Mercedes' drought this year by securing the first win of his F1 career last weekend at the 2022 Brazilian GP.

In a post-race media interaction, Wolff admitted that maintaining this record is not necessarily a priority for Lewis Hamilton, emphasizing that the Briton is simply focused on fighting for the championship in 2023. He said:

"Lewis doesn't need any prioritization and it's not what he ever would want. This race record of winning a race in every single season is less of a priority for him. It's more that we're getting the car back to where it can be, and we are racing for more race victories next year and hopefully for championship."

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"Working relationship" with George Russell is strong, says Lewis Hamilton

Since George Russell has consistently performed at a higher level than Lewis Hamilton in his very first team this year, the seven-time world champion would generally be expected to feel threatened to a certain extent. As reported by Sky Sports, Hamilton claimed that he does not expect his relationship with Russell to be an issue in the years to come.

He said:

"I'm a lot older and I've been with the team so long. So managing whatever challenges we come up with moving forward, we've been through so much that I don't think it's going to be a problem."

Hamilton added:

"I've seen what he did at Williams. I think naturally you have to say it's impressive what he's done this year, the consistency he's had, how he's arrived and just hit the ground running. It's not like he arrived in a completely brand new team. The previous couple of years he was sitting right behind me watching the work that I was doing with the engineers, with Ricky (who), who is now his number one. It's been super easy to blend in. He uses my steering wheel, and he's obviously got to do the test days prior to the year, so I think he's just blended in perfectly and he's been a positive force in the team. He's helped keep the equilibrium in the team, in terms of the working relationship I think it's strong."

25 points currently separate Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the drivers' standings in favor of the latter.