As the new Formula One season draws ever nearer, there is an interesting dynamic brewing in the Mercedes garage. This particular relationship involves the most successful driver in the team’s history and the man that Mercedes hope will emulate him.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will both use 2023 as the season to establish themselves as the team’s number one which means that racing fans are likely to see the pair get their elbows out as they’ve never done before.
Who will prevail and what is likely to happen in the quest to be the driver that Mercedes throw their weight behind?
2022 – the calm before the storm
When the curtain fell on the 2022 season following the final race which was held at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on November 20th, the drivers’ standings for the year listed Russell on 275 points whilst Hamilton was left on 240.
A difference of 35 points separated the two and even if Hamilton didn’t necessarily show it, the 38-year-old would have been disappointed after being upstaged by the team’s emerging starlet.
P1!!!! pic.twitter.com/qFgqAOWoSg
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) November 13, 2022
This is, after all, a man who has won seven world titles; playing second fiddle has never been something he has had to deal with in his career.
It’s worth saying however, that despite Hamilton’s feverish competitiveness, his publicly toned-down reaction to being outscored by Russell may have come down to Mercedes’ faltering car in 2022 which helped cause a distraction by shifting the conversation from the competing drivers to the team’s reliability woes instead.
In other words, not much was expected from Mercedes when it became apparent that their car – which would wildly porpoise – was not going to regularly help their drivers onto the podium.
Yes, you could argue that Russell was able to get more out of a car with profound design flaws, but Mercedes’ uncharacteristically slack season on the pit wall and indeed in the garage created enough noise around the pair which allowed Hamiton the benefit of the doubt.
Hamilton, who has over 100 Grand Prix wins to his name, will only be afforded this charitable narrative once, and he knows as much which is why 2023 promises to see the stakes raised in the Mercedes garage.
There can only be one
With Hamilton just having turned 38, it would be natural to assume that a deteriorating dynamic between himself and Russell would not be a long-term problem for team principal Toto Wolff to deal with.
Put differently, Hamilton wouldn’t be around long enough for any bad blood to significantly affect the team. That, however, would be forgetting that Hamilton has stated his intentions to carry on even after his contract expires in 2023. Presumably, Hamilton will carry on indefinitely in an effort to win his eighth world title after Max Verstappen snatched it from him in 2021.
Notably, if Hamilton were to win another title, it would see him surpass Michael Schumacher’s record of seven which he is currently tied on.
It goes without saying but Hamilton, arguably the best ever, would have to be driving a car that has a realistic chance of winning a world championship and couldn’t move to a team like Aston Martin or Alpine and expect to make history.
With this in mind, extending his contract with Mercedes seems the easiest route to an eight-world title, especially if you take into account that as of the 3rd of February, Hamilton has been priced by Betway at just +275 to win the 2023 Drivers Championship while driving a Mercedes. Those are revealing odds as only Verstappen is priced better to go all the way in 2023.
There could be problems closer to home though as Russell will be standing in Hamilton’s way, determined to begin building a legacy of his own.
Who will Toto Wolff back?
As things stand, Hamilton probably still enjoys a position of slightly more seniority than Russell does at Mercedes but Wolff has already confessed that he wants the pair to win on merit. The 51-year-old executive, when speaking about Hamiton and Russell’s relationship, said: “They are both alpha drivers and this is good. We don’t want a puppy in the car. We manage that as well as we can.”
What this suggests is that the duo will, in all likelihood, be allowed to go racing by Wolff during the early part of 2023 and whoever is able to establish a lead will then enjoy the privileges that come with being higher up in the Drivers’ Championship.
Lewis Hamilton was told that no driver had ever won a race after his 300th start.
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) January 24, 2023
His response: pic.twitter.com/KiG4RgHIFJ
Essentially, it is going to be a tooth-and-nail fight as two of the sport’s biggest names try and claw their way to the top. Could Hamilton’s experience prove all too much for Russell or will Russell’s drive to be the best on the grid be enough to send Hamilton into retirement? All may be well in the Mercedes garage now but it will soon turn into a ruthless battle for supremacy.
