George Russell: “No interest” in fighting with Hamilton for now
According to George Russell, the two drivers have no interest in fighting each other at the moment due to the lack of performance of the cars.
Since the beginning of the season, Mercedes has been greatly suffering from the infamous underperformance and it seems that the team has not yet found the key that would unlock the true potential of the W13. In the first three rounds, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were unable to keep up with the pace of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s Ferraris, yet they managed to secure two podium finishes.
In Bahrain, Hamilton took advantage of the retirement of both Red Bulls to step onto the third step of the podium. The scenario was similar in Australia, with George Russell reclaiming third place after Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz’s retirements. Currently second in the driver’s standings, Russell admitted to not seeing any point in fighting with Lewis Hamilton while Mercedes clearly lacks power.
« In the current setup, this kind of small things doesn’t really matter. » George Russell mentioned an internal struggle between the two Mercedes drivers. « Obviously, everyone wants to finish ahead of their teammate, but Lewis and I have no interest in fighting for fifth or sixth place. We want to work together to close this gap. So there’s no resentment if he’s in front of me or the other way around, we’re not worried about that right now. »
Furthermore, Russell revealed that there are no expected significant improvements in the immediate future for the W13, even though he remains confident for the rest of the season.
