Dismissing Painful Rivalry, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell Unite to Defeat “Inconsistent” Ferrari

There is no better feeling for a team when the entire team, especially the drivers, is working toward a common objective. Even if it may not look like it after the 2023 Japanese GP, such is the case at Mercedes at the moment. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, during the first stint, fought tooth and nail for track position. The two were separated by pit stops but found themselves in front of each other again during the last stint of the race. Despite a painful outcome of their on-track rivalry, the Mercedes men are united on one front, beating Ferrari.

Ferrari has been inconsistent to say the least, even their only race winner in the season Carlos Sainz has admitted so. Despite their inconsistencies, the Italian team finds itself fighting for the runners-up spot in the constructor’s championship, with just 20 points separating the two teams. With the roles reversed from the 2022 season, both Mercedes men are now focused on keeping Ferrari at bay. We can be sure of that because, as revealed on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast, both Hamilton and Russell, speaking separately, expressed the same desire.

Hamilton said, “Our ultimate goal is to try and get ahead of the Ferraris and that’s what my goal was today. It’s to beat the Ferraris in the constructor’s championship. That’s all that matters. We’re not fighting for a driver’s position in the championship because firstly we’re not close and secondly we’re not fighting for the championship so. Now it’s about just getting the maximum points for the team. I think that’s what we did here.”

Russell added, “At the end of the day, we need to score the maximum points possible. For me personally, the driver’s championship is totally out of the window this season. The objective is to finish P2 with the team ahead of Ferrari.“

Read More: “Russell Will Have to Raise His Level”: Lewis Hamilton Shifts Balance of Power at Mercedes With “New Version” as George Comes Under Immense Pressure

We are not sure where the two teams will be after the penultimate race of the season, but the objective is set and the goals are aligned for the Mercedes men.

In fact, after the disappointing result in Japan, Hamilton took to Instagram to fire a warning to the rivals.

Lewis Hamilton fires a warning to rivals after the disappointing Japanese GP

The Brit has been struggling with performance and his car since the start of the 2022 season. Hamilton can be credited for Mercedes coming as far as they have. However, there are still a lot of areas where the team needs to improve as they mount a comeback and look to the future.

Keeping the near future in mind as well, Hamilton took to Instagram to fire a warning at his rivals with a fiery warning and words of motivation for his team.

In his Instagram post’s caption, Hamilton wrote, “Not the best result, but make no mistake, the talent in my team is incredible. We have some of the best engineers in the business and our accomplishments speak for themselves. We are beyond proof. We know how to be at the top and aren’t going to stop until we’re back there.” 

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Hamilton has locked his future with his team and now he will do everything in his power to achieve his goal before his contract ends in 2025. It will be interesting to see how things progress in these next couple of years.