'He Is Ready': Russell Can Definitely Become 'Captain' At Mercedes Says Klien

Monday, 25 December 2023 at 22:00

Former F1 driver Christian Klien stated that George Russell can replace Lewis Hamilton in the future and become "captain" at Mercedes.

George Russell has been a teammate of Lewis Hamilton's for two seasons now. While he was able to beat the seven-time World Champion in 2022, he lost out to his teammate by quite a gap in the Championship in 2023.

Commenting on the most recent season, former Red Bull Racing driver Christian Klien told RacingNews365 the seven-time World Champion was better, but Russell was unlucky.

"Lewis showed his class, with some very good races where he showed what the car was capable of. He was more consistent than George. George was unfortunate, but also had some problems with the way the car worked."

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has been open about the fact that his goal is to get the eighth World Championship for Hamilton.

On the other hand, he also said he believed that the 25-year-old is the future of his team. Klien is confident that Russell can will be a fitting replacement once Hamilton decides to retire from Formula One. He added:

"I think so. Russell is good. He showed that last year that he is ready. This year he struggled, but that's part of the learning curve. He's still young and has many years to go. I definitely think he can be the captain at Mercedes in the future."

Hamilton extended his contract with Mercedes until the end of the 2025 season, so he will be with Silver Arrows at least until then. He currently seems to be determined to get his eighth title, so if he can't do it by then, maybe he might stay for even longer.

However, it isn't so clear whether the seven-time World Champion could beat his teammate even if it came down to battle for the Championship only between them, as Martin Brundle said.