Damon Hill claims George Russell is trying to ‘prove himself as lead driver at Mercedes’ ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari departure 

George Russell scored a podium in Montreal after finishing the 70-lap event in P3.

Damon Hill claims George Russell is trying to ‘prove himself as lead driver at Mercedes’ ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari departure 

George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Damon Hill (Via: imago)

Former F1 world champion, Damon Hill has shared his thoughts on George Russell‘s situation at Mercedes. Hill claims that Russell has been the subject of mistargeted pressure in light of the departure of Lewis Hamilton from the team next year.

George Russell joined Mercedes at the start of the 2022 season and has been a relentless driver for the team despite the poor form of the Silver Arrows. Mercedes has not been the fastest car on the grid since the introduction of the ground-effect regulations.

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Damon Hill has hence voiced his thoughts for Russell to take it a bit easy on himself amidst the rumors and the buzz of a new teammate next season. Hill has also urged Mercedes to be more focused on Russell’s ability rather than the prospect of new talent in the foreseeable future.

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He is trying to establish himself as the lead driver. They're talking all the time about who's going to be his teammate for next year, rather than talking up George. I think that Mercedes ought to back him a bit harder. They ought to give him a bit more confidence. And then he doesn't perhaps have to try so hard to prove himself in the race, because it seems to me he's trying to compensate a little bit for stuff. I think he needs to cool it.
Damon Hill spoke on the SkySportsF1 podcast

George Russell has been a better driver than his teammate Lewis Hamilton this season and has also scored the only podium for Mercedes. The young Brit will look to continue his convincing run of form for the rest of the campaign in hopes of amassing more podiums and victories with the ever-improving W15.

Lewis Hamilton claims underheated tires were the issue during quali in Montreal

Lewis Hamilton has spoken on the issue of going out on underheated tires during the crucial Q3 lap of the Canadian GP qualifying. The 39-year-old claimed the tire blankets were not heating up the tires to the optimum temperature before going out on track.

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (Via: Imago)
The tires were working throughout the weekend, then we got to qualifying and every time I went out of the garage, my tires were for some reason below on temperature. Every set was two or three degrees lower than it should have been, and you can’t catch it up and I couldn’t switch the tires on after that. That’s something we have to really look at, because something went on with the blankets, I guess.
Lewis Hamilton told SkySportsF1

Lewis Hamilton finished the Canadian GP in P4, which is the best result for him this season. However, he reckons he could have finished on the podium and could have even challenged for the win if his tires had worked better in qualifying.

Despite finishing just a few seconds off the podium after a challenging Montreal race, Hamilton has not been quite on satisfactory terms with his performance. The upcoming Spanish GP will test Hamilton’s fueled desire for a better drive as the seven-time world champion looks to score a podium in Barcelona.

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