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Mercedes driver George Russell was unsure how to react when informed of his record against his team-mate Lewis Hamilton this season. The 25-year-old tied with the seven-time world champion 11-11 in qualifying sessions, an area where Hamilton has historically been extremely successful.
Hamilton has had more pole positions than any other driver in Formula One history and his high standards have been met by Russell. Despite finishing 59 points and five positions behind his more experienced team-mate, Russell matching Hamilton in qualifying goes some way to prove that he deserves his spot with the Silver Arrows.
However, Russell was not happy when he was told of his record against Hamilton. Speaking to Channel 4’s Steve Jones, the presenter was more excited than Russell himself. When he was told that matching Hamilton is something to be proud of, Russell replied: “I don’t really know to be honest.”
The host insisted that he would be “chuffed” with that record, but Russell took an opposite approach and added: “Nobody celebrates a draw, do they?” These comments will likely be music to Mercedes’ ears as Russell has shown that he is not content with matching Hamilton, but has ambitions to be a winner on the grid.
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Jones stressed “but it’s Lewis Hamilton!” due to his record in qualifying, before Russell explained: “It’s been a strange season. I felt very good on the Saturday afternoons and sort of found a bit more of my mojo when I struggled a little bit at times in the season.
“But this car is just so challenging to drive and you said we’re 11-all, but we’re never the same pace. Either I’m four or five-tenths ahead, or he’s four or five-tenths ahead of me and that just goes to show how difficult the car is, how difficult the tyres are.”
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Both Russell and Hamilton have lamented the W14 throughout the season, having once again fallen far behind Red Bull’s dominant car. After the year came to a close in Abu Dhabi, Russell admitted that he was looking forward to a “clean slate” with next year’s vehicle and knows where they need to improve to catch Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
“We’re taking a clean slate into next year’s car,” he said. “The positive is we’re not scratching our heads as to why we’re so far behind Red Bull. We see so many flaws with this car.
“That gives every single person back at the factory so much motivation and fire to chase after those problems and find those solutions, which we think will make a good step into next year. Of course, I expect Red Bull to make a step again, but I’ve no doubt, come Bahrain, we’ll be in a stronger position than we were in Bahrain this year.”
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