Mercedes team principal
Toto Wolff expressed confidence in his drivers as he mentioned he believes Mercedes could have the best lineup with the right car.
Mercedes F1 team currently has a combination of an older, experienced driver -
Lewis Hamilton, and a younger, up-and-coming
George Russell.
The two drivers have been teammates for two seasons already, and although it was not expected of him, Russell matched Hamilton's pace pretty much from the beginning.
The seven-time World Champion obviously proved his qualities by winning the seven titles and beating multiple World Champion teammates he had in the past.
So the fact that the 25-year-old is able to match the pace of Hamilton in qualifications, where the score between the two drivers was 11:11 in 2023, means that Mercedes has two awesome drivers in their lineup.
Mercedes team principal
Toto Wolff said during the 2023 season
Hamilton is still the best driver in the World and identified Russell as the future of Mercedes.
Asked whether his driver line-up is currently the best in Formula One, Wolff said he does not doubt his drivers would be at the top if they had a car that allowed them to do so. He told the media:
"If we give them the right car, yes. I think there's a few others, Max you cannot doubt him. He’s already one of the best drivers. If you give our [drivers] a great car, then we’ll be right there."
Austria didn't forget about
Max Verstappen, who showed incredible consistency and sped throughout the 2023 season as he won 19 out of 22 races of the season.
However, his teammate
Sergio Perez could not
quite perform up to his standard, and therefore, the two drivers might not be as strong as a duo.
There are also strong driver lineups in teams like
Ferrari, which has
Charles Leclerc with
Carlos Sainz, or
McLaren, which has
Lando Norris and
Oscar Piastri.
Which driver duo do you believe would win a Championship for their team if everybody raced in an equal machinery?