Of their third and closing season collectively as workforce mates, the battle for supremacy between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell is an intriguing affair.
Russell holds the higher hand by way of pure outcomes and fairly comfortably so by some measures. He’s a stable 10-4 up within the qualifying battle towards a driver who has traditionally excelled at single-lap tempo.
Hamilton made what seemed to be a less-than-subtle insinuation about his Saturday deficit when he reached 7-1 down in Monaco, saying: “I don’t anticipate being forward of George in qualifying.” Nevertheless some inside his workforce noticed that the seven-times champion didn’t click on as readily with the W15 as Russell did. On that event Russell additionally had the advantage of the workforce’s newest entrance wing specification.
Mercedes have continued to convey updates for his or her automobile which have largely proved profitable. As their automobile has improved and Hamilton’s confidence on the wheel has risen, he has began to carry out extra like his previous self.
So whereas Russell holds the higher hand empirically going into the summer season break, Hamilton seems to be firing on all cylinders now, and has largely held the higher hand over the past 5 races. He handed Russell earlier than his workforce mate retired at Silverstone, and did all the things that might be anticipated of him at Spa earlier than the weird circumstances of Russell’s win and subsequent disqualification.
Hamilton additionally holds the factors lead after 14 rounds, thanks partially to Russell’s two no-scores previously three races, neither of which he was able to keep away from. The battle between the 2 drivers seems to be nicely set for the rest of the season, however as an alternative of scrapping over the center factors positions they’re now combating over victories.
So whereas Mercedes look set to shut on their constructors’ championship rivals over the remaining 10 races, Hamilton seems poised to even issues up within the intra-team battle with Russell – a lot as occurred in their first season collectively. Nevertheless the ultimate races play out, Russell has given a great account of himself towards top-of-the-line within the enterprise.
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Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Detrimental worth: Hamilton was sooner; Optimistic worth: Russell was sooner
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