“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,” as the author Charles Dickens once penned. Yet this opening from ‘a Tale of two cities’ cold well be the epitaph on Lewis Hamilton’s F1 career with Mercedes.

Hamilton claimed six world titles with Mercedes, more than any other driver with a single team in F1 history yet his tenure with the Brackley based F1 team was often epitomised as lurching from one extreme to another.

Lewis battled in the extreme for three years alongside Nico Rosberg who pushed him to the wire for the drivers’ title race in 2014 before beating Hamilton to become champion in 2016. Rosberg’s surprise retirement announcement that year saw the more malleable Valtteri Bottas brought in to partner Hamilton, and all was well until in 2021 the upstart Max Verstappen in a Red Bull came a calling.

 

 

 

Only Button has beaten Hamilton previously

Yet it was the departure of Bottas in 2021 and the desperate loss of the record breaking eight championship to Max in 2021 which appeared to finally destabilise Lewis as Mercedes young gun George Russell was promoted alongside the seven times world champion.

While Lewis headline numbers against George appear reasonable over their three years together, a deeper dive reveals just how the younger man came to eclipse the once dominant force in F1 who has rolled the dice and decided to join Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton has only once been outscored by his team mate over the course of their time together with Jenson Button scoring more points than Lewis in their tenure together with McLaren between 2010 and 2012. That said in two of those three seasons, Hamilton came out on top which as a headline suggests he was the better driver during the pairs time together.

Heading into his final race for Mercedes, Lewis was 2-1 down against Russell when measured across their three years together, but was level on points across the era which was to prove pivotal. Hamilton finished one place ahead of his team mate in Abu Dhabi, which secured his three year intra team victory, in this measure at least.

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Russell crushes Hamilton

Yet George in many ways crushed Hamilton during their time together as the once master of the single lap became disillusioned with the team and the car they were providing him with. In 2024 the Grand Prix qualifying scores were 19-5 to Russell. This single measure over their three years together demonstrates clearly the decline in the former world champion.

Lewis dominated Russell in qualifying during their first season together by 13-9 but in 2023 this would move to parity as the scores were 11-11. Yet in laps led over their time together, Russel leads Hamilton by a tally of almost 3:1.

Pole positions go to George 5-1 and front row starts also favour the younger driver by 12-3. Hamilton has an average qualifying position lower than his team mate across the three seasons and a lower average finishing position to boot. Lewis has a few more podiums than George but in terms of top five finishes for the team once again Russell rules the roost.

With Hamilton leaving for Ferrari, George is now the de facto team leader for Mercedes who have recruited F2 rookie Kimi Antonelli to replace their once great champion. Russell now reflects on his racing career and his heroes along the way, but believes that now he is better than his former team mate.

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George’s minimum equals Hamilton level

George admits that his first motorsport hero as being his older brother Benny who was himself a karting champion back in the day. Russell had previously described his brother as the “faster Russell”, as he opened up on his feelings having partnered the seven times world champion in the silver arrows for three years.

Russell’s first complete F1 race weekend with the Mercedes team happened to be during the showdown between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton back in 2016 in Abu Dhabi. “But without doubt, I’ll always remember my first F1 race for Mercedes in Abu Dhabi 2016, the Nico and Lewis race, and just being in the same room as him in the debrief, listening to it all unfold.

“I was starstruck being there in that moment. So for sure it is surreal that we’ve now been team-mates for three years, and that I know within myself that I can perform at a minimum of his level.”

Russell’s demeanour over the past three seasons has changed and as he shed the deferential treatment of his team mate to almost one of indifference although he credits Hamilton for being his inspiration as a young driver. 

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Leclerc with 26 poles a tough nut for Lewis

“He’s ten years older than me, and he’s who I looked up to when I was go-karting, because that was maybe more relatable for me. He was winning races in go-karts, and he was winning British championships, World Championships, and that’s what I wanted to do, because I could visually see him doing that,” Russell concludes.

Lewis has now joined Ferrari and despite his enormous media experience, the intensity of the spotlight from the Italian press over Ferrari and their drivers is something Hamilton cannot envisage.

The expectations are that this move will prove a reset for the seven times world champion, who has suffered since the introduction of the ground effect t cars in 2022. Yet even if Lewis can develop a fresh mindset, the challenge of racing Charles Leclerc should not be underestimated.

Leclerc has 26 F1 pole positions to his name already and so Hamilton will have his work cut out for himself from the get go. Whether lewis flourishes or fails in Maranello will become obvious, even before F1 returns to its European homelands after the open ing flyaway races which commence the year.

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Ex-F1 champ SLAMS Hamilton behaviour “very strange and inappropriate”

Lewis Hamilton is statically the greatest Formula One driver ever, yet debates rage amongst long standing fans of the sport as to whether he really is the greatest of all time. Memories of Graham Hill clinching becoming the only driver to claim motorsports triple crown are often cited as making the deceased British racing legend the GOAT having become the only person to win the Indy500, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Le Mans 24 hours race.

Currently only Fernando Alonso has a small chance of replicating this feat having two F1 titles to his name along with two victories in the Le Mans 24 hour event in 2018-19. Six of Lewis Hamilton’s championship years were with his beloved Mercedes team, who during that era became the most dominant team Formula One has ever seen racking up eight consecutive constructors’ titles between 2014-2021.

There are other drivers in the pantheon of F1 history who also make valid claims to be the greatest of all time, in a time when they were not closeted by the F1 teams exclusive demands and allowed to partake in a range of other perceived ‘dangerous’ racing series…. READ MORE