The 2023 season has come to a close with all drivers aware of their comparison to their teammates. One person acutely aware of this comparison is George Russell, who was severely beaten by his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the season standings, finishing in eighth place while Hamilton was up in third.

The British driver described his compatriot Hamilton as the greatest driver of all time, claiming he was an achievable benchmark. Russell pointed out that with sprint qualifying sessions included, the qualifying head-to-head was the same for the pair of them. The F2 Champ claimed that he had matched Hamilton pace-wise the whole year on average.

I’m going up against the greatest driver of all time. He’s definitely not a bad benchmark. And, you know, I think quali statistics, if you include sprint races, we’re exactly the same. And pace-wise, we’re generally the same as well.

George Russell said, as reported by racingnews365

George Russell did manage to outdo his teammate in 2022 though, in the first year of their partnership. With Mercedes’ only win in Sao Paulo 2022, Russell was 35 points ahead of the 7x Champ in 2022, during a difficult period for Hamilton.

George Russell eager to move on to 2024 with a clean slate

George Russell did not have an ideal season with Mercedes in his fifth year in the sport. With a 64-point gap between him and Lewis Hamilton ahead of him, Russell did not have the best of years when it came to his performance, especially with the unsatisfactory W14.

The Mercedes W14 did not come with any shortage of issues, with the zero sidepod concept backfiring on the Brackley-based team early into the season. For the remainder of the year with concept changes, Mercedes was never able to match the pace of the dominant Red Bull car, losing points to them in every single race except Singapore.

George Russell wants to be rid of the 2023 season as soon as humanly possible, eager to move on. With the W14 being unable to win a single race, the first time for Mercedes in over a decade, Russell claimed he wants to move on to the 2024 season with a “clean slate”.

We're taking a clean slate into next year's car. The positive is we're not scratching our heads as to why we're so far behind Red Bull. We see so many flaws with this car.

George Russell said, as reported by mirror.co.uk

Mercedes have attempted to rectify the backward steps they took with the W14 for next year. With a completely new car concept coming with entirely different parts, Mercedes will be looking to challenge Red Bull at the front of the field right off the bat in the 2024 season, with both drivers looking to be in good form.

In case you missed it:

• Mike Krack claims Aston Martin are ‘brutal’ with themselves after losing F1 Championship bout to McLaren
• F1 pundit reveals the driving force behind Max Verstappen’s ‘pursuit of perfection’ in 2023

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