GEORGE RUSSELL: LEWIS HAMILTON ‘KNOWS FULL WELL’ WE GET SAME MERCEDES TREATMENT

George Russell has said Lewis Hamilton’s comments hinting that he may not out-qualify him again this season were “in the heat of the moment.”

Hamilton went two-thousandths of a second faster than Russell in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, before following that up with his first podium of the season at the weekend.

George Russell: Lewis Hamilton ‘knows full well’ about equal treatment

At the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton hinted that he may not go quicker than Russell in qualifying again this season in his final year with the team, with Russell running the team’s new front wing for the first time.

The team confirmed both drivers had been spoken to about the new part, with Hamilton offering Russell first use of the front wing with only one available, with it offering a significant performance gain around Monaco.

Both drivers have been using that part since Canada, and Mercedes have assured repeatedly that the pair are receiving equal treatment.

Russell confirmed this, too, believing Hamilton’s words from a few races ago to have been spun out of context.

“I think that was probably comments in the heat of the moment because he knows full well that we get the same treatment,” Russell told Channel 4.

“Lewis is a winner, and of course these years have been frustrating for all of us, but especially for him.

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“He’s been used to winning every single season he competes in, and hasn’t won in three years.

“So as I said, it’s frustrating for him, it’s frustrating for all of us, but I’m sure he didn’t mean it as it came across.”

On the same broadcast, former Red Bull and McLaren driver David Coulthard believes Russell is doing all the right things to make himself a future lead driver at Mercedes.

Despite Hamilton’s recent upturn in form, it is the younger Briton who currently leads the head-to-heads among the Mercedes drivers this season, and with the seven-time World Champion leaving the team at the end of the year, Coulthard believes Russell is doing what he can to ensure he can step up when Hamilton makes the move to Ferrari in 2025.

“I think he has in terms of speed, there’s no question there,” Coulthard said on the subject of Russell positioning himself as a future Mercedes team leader.

“He’s right there with Lewis, Lewis marginally ahead of him on this occasion, but the fact that he said several more qualifying [sessions] in front of Lewis, this is all psychologically building his confidence in showing the team against a seven-time World Champion, he is extracting performance from the car.

“It’s fantastic to watch that and I think George, he’s a champion in wait, isn’t he?

“He just needs the car, a series of victories. He’s had a couple of wins, of course – the rest is in place.”

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