In their third and final season together as team mates, the battle for supremacy between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell is an intriguing affair.
Russell holds the upper hand in terms of pure results and quite comfortably so by some measures. He’s a solid 10-4 up in the qualifying battle against a driver who has historically excelled at single-lap pace.
Hamilton made what appeared 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 ahead of George in qualifying.” However some within his team observed that the seven-times champion didn’t click as readily with the W15 as Russell did. On that occasion Russell also had the benefit of the team’s latest front wing specification.
Mercedes have continued to bring updates for their car which have mostly proved successful. As their car has improved and Hamilton’s confidence at the wheel has risen, he has started to perform more like his old self.
So while Russell holds the upper hand empirically going into the summer break, Hamilton appears to be firing on all cylinders now, and has largely held the upper hand over the last five races. He passed Russell before his team mate retired at Silverstone, and did everything that could be expected of him at Spa before the unusual circumstances of Russell’s win and subsequent disqualification.
Hamilton also holds the points lead after 14 rounds, thanks in part to Russell’s two no-scores in the past three races, neither of which he was in a position to avoid. The battle between the two drivers looks well set for the remainder of the season, but instead of scrapping over the middle points positions they are now fighting over victories.
So while Mercedes look set to close on their constructors’ championship rivals over the remaining 10 races, Hamilton appears poised to even things up in the intra-team battle with Russell – much as happened in their first season together. However the final races play out, Russell has given a good account of himself against one of the best in the business.
