Mercedes Mastermind Reveals the Key Difference Between Lewis Hamilton’s Greatest Competitors

Lewis Hamilton has had plenty of legendary teammates in Mercedes and Mclaren over the course of his career. So, when George Russell joined the brood in 2022, it was inevitable that he would be compared to his predecessors.

In the most recent episode of the Beyond The Grid podcast, the technical director of Mercedes Mike Elliott spoke about the difference between Russell and Hamilton’s bitter rival Nico Rosberg.

Mike Elliott compares George Russell with Nico Rosberg

Elliott mentioned the things that impressed him about Russell this year, and of course, his consistency made the list. But more than that, Elliott valued George Russell’s compatibility with the engineers.

“He gets it, you know, you can have a conversation about what you think the car is doing on an engineering basis and he quickly really tunes in to that, and he’s able to give you feedback that’s easy to use and to understand. And that’s going to be really useful for us, going forward,” said Elliott.

Of course, the question that followed was if Nico Rosberg was a similar driver. Rosberg was renowned for his analytical mind on the grid.

“Nico was very good at giving feedback that was very useful for the engineers. I think the difference I’d say with George [Russell] is there’s times when you kind of forget he’s not an engineer,” admitted the technical director.

“Sometimes you discuss things with a driver and you explain it and they nod their head and say “yeah, I understand it” and then a couple of days later you get a question, and you think, “ah no, you’ve not quite understood”. With George, that doesn’t really happen. You come back a couple of days later and you discuss the topic and he’s clearly picked it up, and he’s understood it. I think that’s impressive.”

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton Warned of Nico Rosberg Déjà Vu as Mr. Consistency George Russell Storms the Grid

That is high praise indeed, coming from the technical director of Mercedes who has worked alongside greats for so many years.

Rosberg does not regret rivalry with Lewis Hamilton

For Mike Elliott to put George Russell above Nico Rosberg in this respect means a lot. Especially given Rosberg’s tumultuous history with Lewis Hamilton—their rivalry was the stuff of legends.

As many are aware, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s rivalry began and ended during their time with Mercedes. After seasons of hostile battle, Rosberg finally clinched the World Championship title from Hamilton in 2016.

After his retirement from F1 following the triumph, Rosberg recently opened up regarding his past rivalry with Hamilton.

“I don’t regret anything from the battle with Lewis,” Rosberg answered when asked about having any regrets during his time at Mercedes. “That was a sensational time and a mega fight. I’m very proud of that. In the meantime, we’ve returned to neutral, which is okay.”

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Rosberg and Hamilton’s rivalry has renewed in Extreme E where both have teams. Meanwhile, it is good to hear that Rosberg takes their rivalry with such a healthy attitude right now.