George Russell deems Lewis Hamilton’s extreme self critical comment “nonsense”

George Russell has weighed in on Lewis Hamilton’s extreme self-criticisms after his outing at the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. The 27-year-old dubbed the assessments made by his former teammate as ‘nonsense’ when quizzed about it on Thursday, August 28, ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Hamilton had labelled himself as ‘useless’ and requested that the Scuderia Ferrari team consider a driver change after he suffered a Q2 elimination at the Budapest circuit. The seven-time world champion also stressed how he thinks he was largely the problem and not the team or the SF-25 car, especially after teammate Charles Leclerc had secured pole position that weekend.

However, reflecting on Lewis Hamilton’s comments during his media interaction at the Dutch Grand Prix, Russell was quick to discredit such talks, stressing it was a statement Hamilton had largely made during the heat of the moment. He said:

“Of course, he's talking nonsense when he says something like that because he's the greatest driver of all time. I think in a situation like that, when you go from the race track and you're in front of the media within 10 minutes, you have all of these emotions. When you have a bad day, that's how you feel. When you have a good day, everything changes.”

Indeed, Lewis Hamilton will be aiming for a much-improved outing at the upcoming Zaandvoort race. The 40-year-old is currently on his longest run without a podium finish, 16, dating back to the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez backs Lewis Hamilton to figure it out at Ferrari

Sergio Perez also offered support to Lewis Hamilton amid his difficult start at Scuderia Ferrari. The Cadillac F1 team driver expressed confidence in the British driver to figure it out at the Italian outfit.

Perez, who spoke on the Sky Sports F1 show following his announcement of his move to Cadillac, was greeted with the question about the challenges faced by Hamilton, particularly since switching to Ferrari. The Mexican driver, however, acknowledged how tricky it could prove for a driver when switching teams.

"I think, with Lewis, you've seen it. He's done a tremendous job at Mercedes when they didn't have a competitive car. I think for him, at the end of an era, to be changing teams and getting to adapt has been tricky. But obviously, it's a fantastic driver, and for sure he'll figure it out," Perez said.

Amid the largely underwhelming start to life Lewis Hamilton has experienced, the former McLaren driver expressed his optimism heading into the final 10 races of the season. The Ferrari driver, following the conclusion of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, where he recorded his worst Grand Prix finish, 12th for the Maranello-based outfit, detailed why he should not be counted out for the remainder of the campaign.