"George is handling a bad car better than Lewis is" - F1 pundit Martin Brundle is not surprised that Russell is matching Hamilton

George Russell has been able to adapt better to a bad car compared to his more distinguished teammate. That is F1 pundit Martin Brundle's view at least. In a recent Q&A organized by SkySports, Brundle was asked whether he thought that Russell's early success against Lewis was because of his prior experience driving the Williams in previous seasons and hence being able to better adapt to the bad Mercedes of this season.

Brundle replied in the affirmative and said:

"I think George is handling a bad car better than Lewis is. As I said earlier, George has still got all the motivation and the enthusiasm, and no world-weariness. He has had three years of manhandling a Williams around, getting better results than it perhaps should have done."

"He's doing a fine job and I think he's very special. I'm not at all surprised he's at least matching Lewis, that's exactly what I expected him to do. I feel a bit sorry for him, to be honest! He's bided his time at Williams and now he's jumped in the Mercedes and they're not fast. It reminds me of another driver from Kings Lynn, who was always in the right car at the wrong time"

---

Hamilton might lack Russell's zeal

Brundle further stressed that Hamilton, who has been here and done that for over a decade, will not have the same motivation or the same approach as the younger driver. Brundle also touched on the possibility of Lewis calling it a day if the car is "too much of a slog" for him.

"He is at the far end of his career, he's not going to have the gung-ho approach like George, who has everything in front of him still. Lewis has been there, done it, won it. So maybe if he thinks he's got a couple of years with the hard slog of an uncompetitive car, that could be a trigger for his masterpiece being finished. But I do think it's way too early for that. He'll be eagerly awaiting new parts and seeing what's what."

---

George Russell's start to life in Mercedes has been impressive. He has beaten Lewis Hamilton in the last three races and has not finished outside top 5 in any of the races. The Mercedes driver is currently 4th in the Driver Standings and 21 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton. In terms of debuts at a team, George Russell is keeping everything perfect for now.