{"id":340700,"date":"2025-08-13T08:40:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T08:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/340700\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T08:40:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T08:40:18","slug":"how-george-russell-vindicated-mercedes-faith-versus-lewis-hamilton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/340700\/","title":{"rendered":"How George Russell vindicated Mercedes’ faith versus Lewis Hamilton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has candidly conceded that George Russell<\/a> was the better driver than Lewis Hamilton last season for the team in Formula 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2024 was Hamilton\u2019s swansong with the Brackley-based squad after 12 years together, racking up six Drivers\u2019 and eight Constructors\u2019 titles from 2013 onwards.<\/p>\n

And on paper, the 40-year-old\u2019s final season with the Silver Arrows was littered with standout performances, including wins at the British and Belgian Grands Prix, respectively.<\/p>\n

That said, taking the whole season into perspective, Russell did have the legs over the seven-time World Champion.<\/p>\n

Not only did the 27-year-old outscore Hamilton, but he also had more than the measure of the Briton on one-lap pace, out-qualifying him comprehensively by a margin of 19-5.<\/p>\n

Looking back, Wolff was pretty candid in admitting that Russell was in fact the \u201cstronger driver\u201d out of the duo. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at George, the development he\u2019s made since he joined Formula 1 from the fast kiddo in\u00a0Williams, and then being drafted into Mercedes, clearly with the greatest of all greats, with\u00a0Lewis Hamilton,\u201d Wolff said in a video Mercedes published.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you\u2019ve seen already last year he started to be so strong on pure pace \u2013 in terms of the results, the stronger driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now with Lewis having gone to\u00a0Ferrari\u00a0he\u2019s taken the senior driver slot, and it completely came naturally and he delivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GeorgeGeorge Russell is in no rush to agree a new Mercedes deal<\/p>\n

Wolff hints at positive Russell contract negotiations<\/p>\n

Wolff\u2019s flurry of praise for the 27-year-old comes interestingly amid a prolonged period of negotiations with Russell for a race seat with the team in 2026 and beyond. <\/p>\n

As things stand, neither party has put pen to paper. And the Briton has admitted that his contract situation with the team is not going to change over the summer break either<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Coming into the break, rumours had intensified that Wolff was looking to sign a disillusioned Max Verstappen from Red Bull, further drawing question marks over Russell\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

But with the Dutchman committing himself to the Milton Keynes-based squad until at least the end of 2026, it looks more than likely that Russell will continue with Mercedes alongside Andrea Kimi Antonelli for the time being.<\/p>\n

It might be that the Austrian\u2019s open adulation of Russell is setting up an announcement about his contract extension sooner rather than later. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe delivers, even when the car is not on the level, he outperforms the car, you can always count on George,\u201d continued Wolff. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd beyond the driving, obviously he\u2019s also great with our partners and does a lot of activities that help us to build his brand and build our brand.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we couldn\u2019t wish for a better number-one driver.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE \u2013<\/strong> Is 2026 F1 reset a last reckoning for self-proclaimed \u2018useless\u2019 Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has candidly conceded that George Russell was the better driver than Lewis Hamilton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,9824,998,4859,79,16,15,106927],"class_list":{"0":"post-340700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-george-russell","12":"tag-lewis-hamilton","13":"tag-mercedes","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wolff"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115020564057813971","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}