Since his arrival at Mercedes in 2022, George Russell has demonstrated remarkable performance, challenging Lewis Hamilton. In his very first year, Russell managed to outshine the seven-time world champion, which didn’t sit well with Hamilton. With the current dynamic shifting, Lewis Hamilton’s longtime rival, Nico Rosberg, has offered advice to Russell, as reported by F1 Maximal.
Russell and Hamilton made contact with each other right on the first lap of the Qatar Grand Prix two weeks ago. Hamilton took Russell out in a moment that was reminiscent of the seven-time world champion’s crash with Nico Rosberg in Barcelona seven years ago.
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With Hamilton colliding with Russell in a Mercedes, no better driver knows the feeling except Rosberg. Therefore, he believes that playing the good guy at Mercedes will not help Russell.
Rosberg’s suggestion to George Russell in Mercedes against Lewis Hamilton
As Russell has more or less been on par with Hamilton – something Rosberg can relate to – he has an important message for the former Williams driver. This comes after the unfortunate collision at Lusail two weeks ago.
Even though Hamilton apologized to Russell for ruining the latter’s race, and the team portrayed perfect bonding between the two drivers, things are far from what it looked like, believes Rosberg.
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Talking about this, the 2016 F1 champion said to Sky Sports as per F1 Maximal, “I hope things work out for George too because you can’t play the nice guy in this scenario. You have to put the pressure on. Otherwise, the team will always choose the easy route.”
How is Mercedes performing in 2023?
Even though there are sparks of rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, Mercedes as a team has been doing better than before. Last year they finished the season in P3, however, this year they have a firm grip in P2.
Hamilton and Russell stand in P3, and P8, respectively in the Driver’s championship. All in all, the Silver Arrows are going in the right direction after they got rid of their zero sidepod concept and developed a regular one.
Nevertheless, the team is very hopeful of taking their advancement to 2024 and challenging the ever-dominant Red Bull. However, they will still need to have mind-boggling upgrades if they want to return to being champions yet again.
