Lewis Hamilton revealed that having George Russell as a teammate in 2022 has not been a tough experience, but rather a pleasant one, as the latter had a positive impact on the team's work environment.
Ever since Nico Rosberg retired from Formula 1 at the end of the 2016, Lewis Hamilton enjoyed having an obedient teammate in the form of Valtteri Bottas, never once threatening his status at the team, always ready to play the "wingman" role when needed.
However this year, young gun George Russell joined the Mercedes fold and proved to be fast from the word go, challenging Hamilton consistently with his pace and points scoring.
Hamilton denied any negative impact from Russell's arrival at his team, and was quoted by F1's official website saying: "I won't say it's been tough [being Russell’s team mate]; it's been pleasant, we've worked together incredibly well.
"George has been super positive, had a positive impact on the work environment," he added. "It's generally been a real pleasure to work with him and it's been great to see his success.
Russell will only continue to improve
"He's done such a great job, got great points for the team and he's going to continue to improve, he's going to continue to improve for a long time," the seven-time World Champion insisted.
Russell is clearly Mercedes' plan to look at the future beyond Hamilton, now 37 years old with the prospect of retirement from F1 a serious option for the driver who had won everything, and broken every record except for the number of Drivers' Championships, a record he shared with the great Michael Schumacher both having bagged seven.
Hamilton though feels Russell is a proper candidate to lead Mercedes into the future, and said: "I definitely see that he's got so much potential in him [to be a world champion] and he's in the right place for it as well.
"I really think that… whether or not I'm here, he has all the qualities to help take this team forward in the future and lead them to success, so I think it's been the right choice for the team.
"I hope I can be a little bit of a part of helping him progress," Hamilton stated.
Russell who joined Mercedes after three years at Williams is currently fifth in the Drivers' Standings, five points behind Ferrari's Carlos Sainz. Hamilton is sixth 19 points behind his teammate.
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