Fittipaldi: Hamilton has come back strong at Russell

Indeed, and especially after Mercedes finally listened to Hamilton and changed their philosophy with their 2023 Car, the W14, the seven-time F1 Champion has been rejuvenated, beating his younger and highly rated teammate, who seemed to be a bit more error prone recently, something we touched on in our latest Editor's Desk.

And retired F1 driver Fittipaldi seems to be of that opinion, and gave his expert opinion in a recent interview with VegasInsider.

"When you go back, a year ago, when F1 changed the rules, Russell had a better combination with the car and now Lewis has come back strong," he said. "Lewis is trying to help develop the car and is adapting himself to it.

"George Russell is a very talented young driver. No doubt about it," the Brazilian pointed out. "But what Helmut Marko said, Lewis has so much more experience and background that he can help develop the car and now he's coming back again. In the races, he's running better, in traffic, overtaking, positioning himself. The experience is showing."

Fittipaldi referred to the consensus that Russell would beat Hamilton at Mercedes; he explained: "It's interesting because when a young driver comes in, all the fans say 'well, I hope he can beat Lewis'.

"It's part of human behaviour. And now, it's coming back to reality. Lewis is so good, so competitive," the 76-year-old insisted.

"We always have this, even myself, like Oscar Piastri, I like to see him perform because he's new and we want him to succeed. It's the behaviour of the racing fans. We always see the new guys with more excitement. And unfortunately, they then stop liking the old guard and say, 'I don't like Lewis Hamilton'.

"They don't know the reason why but subconsciously, it's because they want Russell to perform better. Human beings are very complicated. But at the end of the day, experience counts and Lewis and Fernando are great examples," the winner of 14 grands prix concluded.

Russell currently lags behind Hamilton in the 2023 F1 Drivers' Championship, as he is currently sixth with 65 points, while his decorated teammate is fourth with 102 points.