“He’s going to really hit him hard where it matters,” Tom Clarkson calls out Lewis Hamilton over mind games toward George Russell

The 7-time World Champion has been outperformed by his new teammate George Russell since 2022

“He’s going to really hit him hard where it matters,” Tom Clarkson calls out Lewis Hamilton over mind games toward George Russell

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton

FIA press conference host Tom Clarkson is cynical of Lewis Hamilton as a result of his behavior in the last press conference. Hamilton had a laid-back approach at Melbourne and let his young teammate George Russel, answer questions directed at the pair. Unlike in the past, when Hamilton used to take the limelight, it’s now the young Englishmen who is interacting more with the media acting like a spokesperson to the Brackley-based team.

The suspicion was raised by Lewis’ reluctance to answer questions directed at the pair, allowing George to take charge. Clarkson stated, “Every time a question was posed to both of the Mercedes drivers, Lewis was quite happy for George to answer the question. He almost became the spokesperson for the team in that press conference. And I was interested as to why Lewis was happy to just sit back and let that happen. I don’t know whether he’s sort of keeping his powder dry.”

YouTube video

Following up on this, he began to speculate by questioning, “Is he trying to sort of give him a sort of false hope of being the dominant person, and then he’s going to really hit him hard where it matters most on the stopwatch later on?” He couldn’t pinpoint his thought process but was intrigued by Lewis allowing George to be the man.

FS Video

Related: Toto Wolff reveals important detail of Mercedes’ upcoming upgrade package in Imola

Can George Russell continue to outperform Lewis Hamilton?

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton(credits: Formula1.com)

George Russell departed Williams at the conclusion of the 2021 season to join Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport in one of the most anticipated moves of the season. Russell had previously stepped into the Mercedes car as a substitute for Lewis, where he showed tremendous resolve.  

Since his debut for the Silver Arrows, he has achieved 1 pole position, 8 podiums, including his maiden win, and 5 fastest laps. He amassed a total of 275 points, edging out his British counterpart by 35 points. This was a surprise, with several not expecting the veteran Lewis to be beaten by a new teammate. It also marks the first team Hamilton has been beaten by his teammate since Nico Rosberg in 2016. He was also consistently out-qualified. George finished 4th in Driver’s Championship, which was a stellar achievement.

Despite showing great potential and adept skill at the wheel coupled with last season’s success, Russell has had a slow start to 2023, scoring a paltry 18 points compared to the 38 of Hamilton. Whether Lewis is toying with George and these press conference mannerisms are a ploy to make him let his guard down, remains to be seen.

In case you missed it :