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Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes teammate George Russell is fearful that he may get his 'ass kicked' by the seven-time world champion and lose his Silver Arrows seat if he fails to perform at the level expected of him.
The 24-year-old joined Mercedes to replace the departing Valtteri Bottas after languishing at the bottom of the F1 grid with Williams for three seasons.
Speaking about his move to Mercedes at the start of 2022 on the Beyond the Grid podcast, George Russell said:
“Signing a piece of paper to join the greatest team of this era, without doubt, is obviously a huge moment. But if I don’t perform, and I go and get my ass kicked by the greatest driver of all time, what does it mean? Because I’ll probably be out the door.”
Russell went on to add, saying:
“It was a huge moment, it was a huge step on my ladder, but it’s sort of like the image of the guy climbing the mountain; he thinks he’s at the top and then he looks up and the peak’s miles away, and then you get there, and there’s another peak. That’s kind of the way I looked at it. There’s a lot to be to celebrate for a moment like that, but I want to be a World Champion, and I want to win races, and signing that contract didn’t guarantee anything.”
Being ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 2022 F1 is 'no big deal' according to George Russell
Since arriving at Mercedes, George Russell has done well to try and measure up to Lewis Hamilton, the most accomplished driver currently in the history of F1.
After 11 rounds of racing in 2022, Russell has been in the top five in every single race barring the most recent iteration of the British GP. He also has a better head-to-head record against Hamilton in qualifying and races so far. The young Briton, however, is not putting much stock into these accomplishments just yet.
Speaking on the aforementioned episode of the Beyond The Grid podcast, the 24-year-old said:
“I had zero expectations. I went into the season truly wanting to focus on myself and I always believed that I’d be able to get to a great potential, once I got a few races under my belt and understood the car, and being able to maximise that.”
Russell went on to add, saying:
“I kind of accepted prior to the season, if I’m two-tenths behind the greatest driver of all time in the opening few races, it’s no big deal. If I’m on the same pace, it’s no big deal, and if I’m ahead, it’s no big deal. [I thought] I’m just going to focus on myself and try and get the most out of that, and I think it’s been a relatively good start to the season.”
Heading into the 2022 F1 French GP, George Russell is in P5 in the World Drivers' Championship standings with 128 points. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is 19 points behind him in P6.
