“I’m not here to fight with my teammate, but to win” - George Russell clears the air on his relationship with 7x F1 winner Lewis Hamilton 

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have had a 'frenemy' kind of equation. Known to be very competitive, Russell has always aspired to be the next World Champion.

In a recent interview with Autohebdo, Russell cleared the air about his equation with Hamilton. He stated that he is in the team to concentrate on his aspiration to win. The British driver also mentioned that he and Hamilton respect each other and have always had a healthy competition with each other.

“I think it has to do with the fact that we are at different stages in our careers. There’s a lot of mutual respect between us.

“Lewis obviously has nothing left to prove. Not to anyone. And I also feel that I have nothing to prove either. I am in this position because I have worked very hard and I’ve earned it.”

According to George Russell, he and Lewis Hamilton share a good relationship and have no issues on their side of the garage. He also pointed out that the equation between two drivers at a similar level, of the same generation, can mess up the dynamics of the team.

However, the Mercedes drivers have a clear demarcation of who is the number one, especially when both drivers are at different stages of their career. Russell further explained the dynamics between him and Lewis:

“We don’t fight for position, we just fight for the best position. You don’t fight for the number one position in the team."

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are ready to fight back with new upgrades to W14 in line

Lewis Hamilton driving the W14

Team Mercedes have been going through a long period of adjustments since the car design regulations were put in place in 2022. Their streak of eight consecutive victories in the constructors championship, between 2014 and 2021, came to an end in 2022 when Red Bull dethroned them with their near-perfect racing car.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have struggled with the unpredictable and problematic nature of W13's performance. Porpoising was thought to be the major issue, but as the year went on, bigger issues plagued their season made it hard for them to fight Ferrari and Red Bull.

However, things improved by the end of the year with Russell leading home Lewis for a 1-2 in Brazil that stoked the drivers' hopes for 2023.

However, issues with the car began getting worse after the first qualifying session in Bahrain where Mercedes secured P6 and P7. It was clear that the car design required fundamental changes.

With Mercedes not being able to give Lewis Hamilton a car that would help him win races, there were rumors that Lewis is planning on leaving Mercedes to move to Ferrari.

However, with James Allison returning as the technical director for Mercedes, the first upgrade package is said to start the team's turnaround in the season.

Expressing his eagerness to race in W14 and discussing the amount of effort the team put in, Lewis Hamilton said:

“The amount of work (that) has gone in is incredible. I’ve been so excited to get in the car and feel these changes that hopefully put us on the right path now to progress forward and try and catch the guys ahead.”

Lewis pointed out that he definitely felt improvements in the car in the recent race in Monaco, though there were some hiccups with the car during the race for both drivers. Now the team is in the process of correcting issues that went wrong in Monaco for the upcoming 2023 Spanish F1 GP.