Challenges Galore for Mercedes as Egoistic Lewis Hamilton Gears Up for 2023 Battle Against “Chatterbox” George Russell

Many had speculated Mercedes to have troubles in 2022. Although it was because of their car fundamentals and not because of the speculated strained relations between the drivers. George Russell has bedded in well with Lewis Hamilton. The duo has worked together for the Silver Arrows to salvage a troublesome season.

Now there is no team pairing in F1 that does not have its issues. There might come a point when Lewis Hamilton may be furious with his younger counterpart in car #63. Even George Russell isn’t the type of guy who shall sit back in the shadow of the 7-time champion to let him win. A spin-off of the Hamilton-Rosberg saga is possible at Brackley.

Former F1 driver Christian Danner has got a similar opinion on the Mercedes driver line-up. Talking to AvD Motor & Sport magazine from Sport1, he said, “It was an interesting pairing [at Mercedes] in terms of personalities because Lewis Hamilton usually lets his ego fly in with the jumbo jet.”

“And George Russell is more of a chatterbox who approaches the matter impartially. I find it very exciting to have these two in one team.” [translated via Google]

There is a contrast in the personalities of both British drivers. Though it may not be the first time that Mercedes may endure a teammate rivalry if things heat between Hamilton and Russell.

The team boss Toto Wolff knows how to handle such a challenge, because of his experience with Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Read More: Despite Losing Out on Mercedes Battle, Lewis Hamilton Tips His Hat To George Russell

To be fair, Russell has shown great signs of maturity and balanced his ambitions well. While there was a moment at Zandvoort that could have caused issues, Mercedes handled them well. Yet, 2023 will be a challenge, especially if both drivers fight for the title.

Can Mercedes maintain stable driver dynamics between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell?

In the 13 years since they returned to the sport, Mercedes has only hired 5 different drivers. The noticeable aspect is how the Silver Arrows have persisted with a driver for a substantial period before letting him go. When they made their first driver change after 2012, it was because Michael Schumacher was retiring from the sport.

After that, when Nico Rosberg shockingly retired at the end of 2016, Toto Wolff had to call up Valtteri Bottas rather urgently for 2017. Thus, we can say that the Brackley team never laid off a driver until Bottas in 2021.

And to be fair, even Bottas drove for 5 full seasons before making way for their prodigy, George Russell. So, with just 3 driver changes, Mercedes surely knows how to keep its drivers for the long term.

Besides retention, another aspect Toto Wolff has imbibed in the team’s culture is the freedom to fight for the drivers. Many argue that this was a factor in Rosberg and Hamilton having crashes and incidents.

In 2022, we have seen Russell and Hamilton fight respectfully. Though it will be intriguing to see if both Britons can keep up the cordial relations when they fight for the championship.

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Toto Wolff will be varied of Russell and Hamilton clashing unnecessarily. As he knows how it can damage their title challenge. What do you think? Will we see sparks fly between Lewis and George in 2023?