Lewis Hamilton cautioned over biggest ‘threat’ to F1 dominance

Lewis Hamilton on difficult season for Mercedes in November

Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert believes Lewis Hamilton will be growing frustrated by George Russell as the young Brit eyes a historic season at the seven-time world champion’s expense. A ‘changing of the guard’ could be occurring at Mercedes as Russell looks to build on bettering Hamilton in 2021.

It was a disappointing year for Mercedes, who lost their long-placed crown to Red Bull in both standings, but Russell impressed.

In his maiden campaign after joining from Williams, he finished with 35 points more points than Hamilton.

And Herbert believes the achievement will have made Hamilton take notice after becoming accustomed to beating ex-Silver Arrows team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton will now think Russell is ‘a threat’ to his status as No 1 driver at Mercedes as the latter aims to inflict inter-team defeat on the former for the first time in his storied F1 career.

“He’s been showing the signs we saw many times last season where he was showing his raw pace and, when the opportunity came, he damn delivered,” Herbert told the Mirror.

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“George is doing that very well at the moment. Does the car suit him more? Maybe, but I don’t think that’s really the story.

“The story is that they’re not competitive, but George is getting stronger and stronger. Lewis, as a human, he will always be frustrated that he’s still not beating him every time he goes on the track like he’s used to.

“It’s a totally different scenario, and there’s a changing of the guard at this present time, with the younger generation getting stronger and stronger – Max [Verstappen], for example.

“But it also goes back to [Russell’s victory] last season in Brazil. George had a cracking race that weekend.

“That’s the thing that Lewis will always look at and think, ‘This guy is a threat. This guy is difficult’. As he does more races and seasons in Formula 1, he’s only going to get faster and faster.

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“You can’t rule out Lewis, for sure, because if they suddenly find the right ingredients for this car to go a second per lap faster, for example, then he will get to that level very easily because that’s what he does.

“But I think George will – I don’t think George will have a problem if the level goes up.

“He’s already shown that when they had the car to do the job, bam – he was able to do it. So that’s not a worry that will be in his head, and it’s for sure not in mine.

“Good on him, and we’re both happy that we’ve got another Brit coming to the fore, and he’s going to be a very, very difficult man to beat, given the right car.”

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