Interview ‘Lewis has always been spot on with me’
George Russell may be outperforming his team-mate this season but he insists they have a healthy relationship
‘I still find it strange when people recognise me in the street’
When Lewis Hamilton posted on Twitter earlier this season that he was hoping to introduce George Russell to the joys of skydiving, a few wags joked that the seven-time world champion must be getting so tired of being beaten by his younger team-mate he had resolved to chuck him out of an aeroplane.
Never mind that Hamilton’s message was above a picture of the two of them standing grinning with their surfboards in Melbourne after a bit of intra-team bonding, there remains a suspicion in some quarters that their bonhomie must be false; that Hamilton must be throwing his toys out of the pram.
Hamilton, after all, “passionately hates” being beaten by his team mates. So said 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg, a man who famously retired after his title triumph rather than go head-to-head with his Mercedes team-mate again. Two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen, meanwhile, suggested recently that Hamilton was probably thinking of switching teams, so hard would he be finding the current state of affairs. “I can imagine the sulking,” Hakkinen said. “There’s lots of complaining and whining.”
Russell shakes his head when the suggestion is put to him. “Lewis has been absolutely spot on, every single race,” Russell says firmly of their relationship. “He’s always congratulated me if I’ve had a good result. There’s never been any hard feelings, whatever the result.”
The respect is mutual, with Russell publicly tweeting his admiration for Hamilton yesterday, saying the 37-year-old had “done more for the sport than any driver in history” after it emerged that Nelson Piquet had used a racist term to describe the Briton.
“The relationship [between us] has far exceeded my expectations,” he says. “Not that I expected anything to be sour, but it’s been a very good start to the season in that regard.”
Russell has been as sure-footed out of the cockpit in his debut season with Mercedes as he has been in it. And he has been very sure-footed on the track. Despite a car which has been, at times, “undriveable”, the 24-year-old is fourth in the championship heading into his home grand prix at Silverstone this weekend.
That is mainly thanks to a remarkable run which has seen him finish in the top five in all nine races so far this year, the only driver on the grid to do so.
When we meet at the team’s headquarters in Brackley, Russell is feeling a little under the weather. Back-to-back races in Azerbaijan and Canada have taken their toll. In general, though, he is delighted with how his first six months at Mercedes have gone, even if his increased public profile has been unsettling at times.
Russell says he and his girlfriend, Carmen, had their first experience of being “papped” while on holiday. “It is something I’d never experienced before,” he says. “Also a couple of times fans have followed us in the streets. Most of the time it’s with good intentions, but it’s a bit uncomfortable.
“It’s not like I have security with me wherever I go. I don’t feel I need it. I don’t think of myself as famous. I still find it strange when people recognise me in the street.”
Russell will not have any trouble being recognised at Silverstone this weekend. A record crowd of 356,000 is expected to cram into the Northamptonshire airfield over the weekend, and they will all be desperate to catch a glimpse of one of the rising stars of British motorsport.
Russell, who will be staying in a camper van, cannot wait. He has memories of getting Hamilton’s autograph in 2009 when he was invited to Silverstone as part of Formula Kart Stars. Now they are team-mates.
Russell is hoping Mercedes can spring a surprise. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen may look “bulletproof ” right now, but Russell, 64 points back, is adamant he is still in this championship. “Absolutely,” he says. “It’s a hell of a long way to go. You’ve got to keep on believing. I went to every single race for the last three years for Williams thinking I could win. You’ve got to believe it, because if you don’t believe it, you’re defeated before you even start.”