Mercedes Face Conundrum as George Russell Gets Declared Unprepared to Compete With Lewis Hamilton

When George Russell got the Mercedes drive in 2022, everybody thought that he would beat Lewis Hamilton straight away. And he did beat the 7-time world champion by 35 points as he secured 4th in the driver’s championship while Lewis only managed P6. However, that result didn’t reflect the true outcome of the season. Mercedes made us aware that they ran most of the experiments in 2022 on Hamilton’s car and that’s why he was often on the back foot on Saturdays and thus had a poor race on a Sunday.

However, the 2023 season was a much better representation of where the two British drivers stand compared to each other with Lewis Hamilton securing P3 in the championship 59 points clear of George Russell in P8. F1 analyst and technical expert Albert Fàbrega recently spoke about George Russell during his analysis of the 2023 season. And Mercedes might not feel comfortable with this assessment if the W15 actually came out to be a competitive car.

Albert Fàbrega says George Russell didn’t match up to the Level of Hamilton

Mercedes managed to cling to second place in the constructors’ championship despite going through its first winless year in Formula 1 in over a decade. While it was George Russell who helped the team achieve that result in Abu Dhabi by scoring only his 2nd podium of the season, if you look at the rest of the season, it was mostly Lewis Hamilton who carried the team on his back.

One can try to put down George Russell’s lack of good results on the troubles he faced in races where he was hit by reliability issues like in Australia and Sao Paulo. However, there were races where he made unforced errors, notably in Canada, Monaco, and Singapore that led to his championship points taking a hit, finishing with 175 season points, a hundred less than the fourth-place achievement in 2022.

During the 2023 season analysis video on his YouTube channel, Albert Fàbrega raised concerns over Russell’s performance. He said, “I expected a bit more from Russell, to be honest. I expected that he would have taken that step forward where we could already compare him with Lewis Hamilton. That he would be able to present himself as a leader of the team. But this year, the car has been difficult to drive, and it hasn’t given me the sensation that he is capable of consistently being faster than his teammate and, therefore, manifesting as the clear leader of the team.”

“I believe the season has been disappointing. There is much more in George Russell, and I am sure that if the car performs better, he will make a qualitative leap. He needs it as soon as possible. He hasn’t lived up to Hamilton,” Fàbrega added.

READ MORE: Bigger Person Lewis Hamilton Reveals Reason for First Lap Chaos With George Russell

While many share the sentiments of Albert in suggesting that George is not yet at the level of Lewis, George himself believes that he is on the same level as the 7-time world champion.

Russell thinks he is at the level of Lewis Hamilton

Despite the challenging year, where outcomes eluded him and only two podium finishes materialized, Russell sees a silver lining in matching the pace of the 7-time world champion, whom he deems “the greatest of all time.” In an interview with the Telegraph, Russell acknowledges his desire to surpass Hamilton but also emphasizes the need for realism, recognizing the monumental benchmark he faces.

“I’ve been on Lewis’ level, on average, throughout this year,“ said George. “And I’m not satisfied with just being on his level. I want to be ahead of him. But I’ve also got to be realistic. I’m going up against the greatest driver of all time. He’s definitely not a bad benchmark.“

“And, you know, I think qualy statistics, if you include sprint races, we’re exactly the same. And pace-wise, we’re generally the same as well,” he added. Despite the lackluster results, he values the competitive edge, preferring it over attributing success to luck when slightly off the pace.

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Do you think George Russell will be able to outpace Hamilton in a championship-level car? Share your insights down below in the comments.