George Russell hints at stealing Lewis Hamilton ideas to beat champion

Lewis Hamilton opens up on difficult season for Mercedes

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George Russell has admitted he stole some of Lewis Hamilton’s techniques in his debut season at Mercedes. Russell said he had learned a “huge amount” from the seven-times champion since he joined the Silver Arrows at the start of the season.

Russell explained how he had developed more off-track since partnering Hamilton including how to get the most from his engineers. This could have been vital to Russell’s success after the former Williams driver surpassed expectations and toppled Hamilton in his first year with the German manufacturer.

Russell told Crash.net: “For sure, being team-mates with Lewis is such an amazing position to be in because he’s obviously the greatest driver of all time and there’s a huge amount I’ve learned from him in the sense of… probably more off-track, to be honest, with how he conducts himself with the engineers and goes about his business.

“But equally, small details on-track that have been really impressive for me to see. But, if you want to be a Formula One world champion, you’ve got to beat the best and you’ve got to beat everyone. And what a position I’m in to have Lewis as my benchmark.”

Russell finished a staggering 35 points ahead of Hamilton to become only the third team-mate to finish in front of the Briton over the course of a season. The 24-year-old also secured Mercedes’ only victory of the season after a dominant drive at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Hamilton secured nine podiums to Russell’s eight but the youngster’s consistency saw him remain ahead. Russell only finished outside the top five on three occasions all season compared to Hamilton’s eight.

Hamilton has previously praised Russell for being a “positive force” in the team since his arrival.

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However, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has previously claimed Russell’s advantage in 2022 was “irrelevant”. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, he explained: “I think Lewis has been really good this year.

“He’s held us up at times – the energy level when it was down, in the briefing room, on days when it was difficult for him… The partnership with George was really good. They together developed the car.” When asked specifically about the points gap between his two drivers, Wolff added: “Irrelevant.

“They are not racing for a World Championship, they haven’t raced for victories apart from Brazil. I don’t think that for any of the two it matters whether they finished second, third, fourth or fifth.”

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