Only in the recent past, George Russell reiterated in an email to Toto Wolff that he has all the attributes of a Mercedes F1 driver. Little did Toto know that this young kid from King’s Lynn would deliver on his claims. However, now that he is a Grand Prix winner, everyone will be more expectant of Russell from now on. With Mercedes looking to get back in the championship fight in 2023, the onus to win won’t be on Hamilton alone.

Sky Sports announcer Johnny Herbert spoke about how Russell handled the pressure at Interlagos. He mentioned, “It was just the way he won the race. He did it in such a nice, consistent way throughout. He’s under pressure. That’s pressure he’s never felt before, and he lived up to it. Brilliant work.” [translated via Google]

The 3-time F1 race winner thinks that this win in Brazil will do wonders for George’s confidence in his career. He added, “With the race win he took in Brazil, he will go to Abu Dhabi with a completely different confidence when he gets in the car.”

“Yes, he won a race, but at the same time he also beat Hamilton.”

He concluded by saying, “If Mercedes can give him the car, I think I’d put a little bit of money on George winning the championship.” Although we are yet to see Russell in a full-year championship battle and 2023 might give us the same.

Read More: “Only Podium Niki Ever Visited… And He Said to Me…”: George Russell Left Mercedes Maestro With One Prediction

It was visible that Leclerc could not keep his championship challenge going in 2022. So, it would be intriguing to see whether Russell can take on Hamilton or Verstappen in a full championship battle.

Lewis Hamilton on a working relationship with George Russell at Mercedes

Hamilton finished P2 in the Brazilian GP behind his teammate, Russell. Hamilton was happy for his Mercedes teammate and mentioned how easily Russell has blended in at the Silver Arrows.

Lewis said after Russell’s win at Interlagos, “It’s not like he [Russell] arrived in a completely brand new team. The previous couple of years he was sitting right behind me watching the work that I was doing with the engineers, with Ricky (who), who is now his number one.”

He added further, “It’s been super easy to blend in. He uses my steering wheel, and he’s obviously got to do the test days prior to the year, so I think he’s just blended in perfectly and he’s been a positive force in the team.”

Lastly, Hamilton told he shared a healthy working relationship with Russell. He concluded, “He’s helped keep the equilibrium in the team, in terms of the working relationship I think it’s strong.”

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Only time will tell if Mercedes can get into title contention in 2023. Although for now, the Brackley squad is loving to have two alpha drivers who can contest for wins. What do you think, who comes out on top between Hamilton and Russell? Will the W14 fight for the 2023 title?