Hamilton Defended By Ferrari Team Principal Amid Comparisons To Russell

Tuesday, 06 August 2024 at 22:00

The team principal of Ferrari (Lewis Hamilton's future team), Frederic Vasseur, defended the seven-time World Champion amid comparisons to his teammate George Russell.

The younger of the two Mercedes drivers, George Russell, is currently winning the head-to-head battle against his more experienced teammate, Lewis Hamilton.

The 26-year-old outperformed the seven-time World Champion 8-6 in the Grand Prix race and 10-4 in qualifying results.

The seven-time World Champion is the most successful and, according to quite a few fans- the best F1 driver of all time.

Consequently, it is strange to see him being outperformed by a younger teammate, although it should also be noted that George Russell is also a super talent and possibly a future World Champion.

The 39-year-old's future team principal, Fred Vasseur, defended him as he pointed to another stat- points in the Drivers's Championship. He told Sky Italy:

"Everyone has been saying since the beginning of the season that Russell is faster than Hamilton, but at the moment he is the one who has scored more points for Mercedes."

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Hamilton currently ranks sixth in the Championship, with 150 points, and Russell is eighth, with 116 points. What is not included in this stat is that the 26-year-old was disqualified (through no fault of his own) after winning the Belgian Grand Prix.

That's one of the reasons why the gap between the two teammates is so big at the moment. However, even if Russell got the 25 points for the victory in Belgium, he would have 141 points and still be behind the 39-year-old with 143 points (Hamilton would have seven points less for second place).

Another interesting thing to mention is that Hamilton's results improved significantly as his Mercedes car's performance increased. He was the only driver to finish inside top four in every Grand Prix race since the 2024 Candian Grand Prix (six races ago).

Considering everything, Vasseur didn't seem concerned at all. He also added there are more benefits to having the seven-time World Champion on the team:

"In terms of efficiency, I think he's a good benchmark. We know the positive aspects of Lewis' arrival at Ferrari. For example, his great experience in Formula 1."