Lewis Hamilton would have crushed Max Verstappen in Mercedes. That’s what you believe George Russellcurrent partner of the seven-time world champion in Mercedes. The British pilot managed to beat in 2022 a hamilton despite being his first season in the star team, beating Lewis by 35 points in the championship and achieving the only victory for Toto Wolff’s team at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Russell has wanted to vindicate himself and value his work at Mercedes, and for this, he has compared himself to the current world champion, Max Verstappen. The English driver assures that if Verstappen had signed for Mercedes instead of Red Bull at the beginning of his career, Hamilton would have beaten him without much difficulty.
“For example, Max Verstappen obviously had his promotion after 18 months, but maybe if I had entered a team like Mercedes against Lewis Hamilton at the peak of his power, could have hurt his career”, says Russell in statements collected by ‘CarAndDriver’.
“You have to look at it from both sides, and for sure Max was a better driver after three or four years under his belt compared to where he was after 18 months,” explains Russell, who believes that in his first year, Verstappen couldn’t have stood up to Hamilton: “If you face a guy who is absolutely at his best and dominates the car he is so used to, maybe he wouldn’t be in the position he is in today”.
Russell does not regret his time at Williams
The British driver has also spoken about the three years he spent at Williams. It is not clear to him whether, as most fans think, his promotion to Mercedes. which occurred in 2022, came too late.
“It’s something I tell myself because I like to have a glass half full and I want to get the positive out of every situation. But I could sit here and say that I wasted three years of my career. because I was in a car that was just at the back of a grid and I couldn’t fight for victories” explains Russell, making clear his doubts about his stay at Williams,
“Or you can see all the positive aspects of my time there. I look at those years now and think: ‘Yeah, maybe I learned more runs at the back compared to what some of my rivals may have done,'” says the British pilot, who values positively the experience he acquired in his time at the legendary English team.
