Lewis Hamilton dismissed the suggestion that it has been "tough" to be team-mates with the impressive George Russell at Mercedes this season.
It is the young Brit's first full year with the team, having previously deputised for Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. His impressive performance that day, and strong results with Williams despite their lack of competitiveness, earned him the chance to race with a top team.
It has not been an easy time for Russell, though, who came into the team expecting to be able to challenge for race wins. Instead, he has been saddled with the worst-performing Mercedes car in years.
Still, his results have been remarkably consistent – other than at the British Grand Prix, in which he was taken out at the first corner, Russell has finished in the top five of every race in 2022. He has even outperformed Hamilton by finishing higher in more races and out-qualifying the 37-year-old more times than not.
Hamilton might have been annoyed by that, but publicly, at least, he insists he is delighted with the youngster's impact. "It's been pleasant, we've worked together incredibly well," said the seven-time world champion, ac quoted by F1's official website .
"George has been super positive... had a positive impact on the work environment. It's generally been a real pleasure to work with him and it's been great to see his success. He's done such a great job, got great points for the team and he's going to continue to improve, he's going to continue to improve for a long time.
"I definitely see that he's got so much potential in him and he's in the right place for it as well. I really think... whether or not I'm here, he has all the qualities to help take this team forward in the future and lead them to success, so I think it's been the right choice for the team. I hope I can be a little bit of a part of helping him progress."
Neither Hamilton nor Russell has been in the running to win a race so far this year, but that might change before the end of the season. Ex-F1 racer Jolyon Palmer even believes Mercedes might be in the running at the next race thanks to their improvements and "bulletproof" reliability.
"There are signs now, though, that they are getting on top of it and are merging back towards being genuine front-runners once more," said the former Renault driver. "The French Grand Prix up next is one of the smoothest circuits, made up of predominantly medium and high-speed corners. Mercedes have always gone well there in the past, and it surely poses their best chance of fighting for victory on merit so far this year."
