After George Russell publicly criticized Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton discussed his Formula One teammate’s future with the company.
Lewis Hamilton believes Max Verstappen and George Russell would work well together if they became Mercedes teammates. The 39-year-old seven-time world champion will leave the Brackley team at the end of the season and join Ferrari.
The speculation about who will fill Hamilton’s shoes has been intense, with club boss Toto Wolff keeping his cards close to his chest. There have been numerous speculations that he wants to bring Verstappen over from Red Bull, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli might be elevated from junior driver to Russell’s partner.
Russell, 26, has recently criticised the performance of his Mercedes car, prompting warnings from Guenther Steiner and Nico Rosberg that he does not have the gravitas and leverage to do so in the same way that Hamilton does. Nevertheless, Russell’s current team-mate still believes the King’s Lynn native is still the future of Mercedes.
In a recent interview, Hamilton said: “Well, obviously George is an integral part of this team and he’s going to be here for the long haul. He’s doing such a great job, and he’s going to grow into the leader of the team.
“So it would be interesting to see. I don’t know what their relationship [Verstappen and Russell] is like, but I’m sure they’d work it out. It would definitely be a strong line-up, of course, similar to what we have in my next team [Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at Ferrari].”
Russell recently blasted his car shortly after the Brazilian GP. In Sao Paulo, he said: “The problem we’ve got with this car at the moment is you think it’s not going to bite you, and you can achieve a really great lap.
“Then, suddenly nothing changes, or you feel nothing changes, and the following lap you lose all of that performance. Without a doubt this is probably the most inconsistent our performance has been as a team in probably forever.”
Mercedes’ collapse has fueled conjecture about Wolff’s next move to compete with powerhouses such as Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull. Rosberg has hinted at Wolff’s unrelenting pursuit of excellence and probable team changes.
When asked about Russell, Rosberg replied: “George Russell is not safe at all because Toto still wants Max and he will try again for 2026. ‘Give up’ does not appear in Toto’s vocabulary.
“So if Max does become available and I do think it’s a possibility, then it is a shootout between George and Kimi next year. And it’s a lot of pressure on George because he has everything to lose. He should be the one ahead because Kimi is 18 and completely new. It’s not an easy situation for George.”
