Speaking to Mirror Sport, Sky Sports F1 expert Karun Chandhok said the responsibility will lie with Mercedes to ensure the harmony between Hamilton and Russell remains.
Karun Chandhok has named Lewis Hamilton and George Russell as F1’s strongest driver duo – but knows a title fight could see tensions boil over.
Mercedes has the seven-time Formula 1 world champion teamed up with a race winner who is highly rated for future titles. And both are tied down until at least the end of 2025 after recent contract extensions.
Russell put Hamilton together in his first season, although the more experienced Briton has had much better results this year. Regardless, Chandhok has seen enough in the past two campaigns to believe they are a perfect fit to work together.
“I think Mercedes has the strongest line-up in Formula 1,” the Sky Sports pundit and former F1 driver told Mirror Sport, in an interview facilitated by OLBG. “I think it’s the combination of two guys who are extremely fast but also very good at working together and working as a team in a harmonious way.
“It’s not like Lewis and Nico [Rosberg] are a bit nervous. George pushes Lewis more than Valtteri [Bottas], so I think in that way he will be a better teammate. They have a great squad, so why change?
It remains to be seen whether Mercedes can provide Hamilton with a car capable of challenging for the championship within the term of his new contract. But if the team is successful, Chandhok has no doubt that the 38-year-old is capable of completing the agreed target.
He say:
“Lewis is clearly still motivated and hungry to try for an eighth world title. Personally, I’d love to see it. I remember growing up when Michael [Schumacher] won his seventh and thinking, ‘Wow, It’s great to be here to see history being made.
“At that time I was still involved in Formula 3 and admired the greatness. I remember watching that race at Spa in 2004, when he won his seventh title, and thinking, “Will I ever see that again in my life?” The same thing happened when Lewis won Saturday. Honestly, it was great to see him get his eighth win.”
Until now, the relationship between Mercedes drivers remains very strong. Even after heated moments, such as Russell’s complaints when the team told him to let Hamilton pass at the end of Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, there was not a single open shot at each other. Whether that changes in a title fight remains to be seen.
“We cannot predict this before it happens,” Chandhok said when asked about the outlook. “We’ve seen title fights within the team where teammates argue, like Lewis and Nico, and we’ve seen others get along like [Niki] Lauda and [Alain] Prost.
“I think, more often than not, if you think about [Nigel] Mansell and [Nelson] Piquet, Lewis and Fernando [Alonso], [Sebastian] Vettel and [Mark] Webber, [Ayrton] Senna and Prost – largely in sync team in a title match lost.
“However, that doesn’t mean it has to happen. A lot will depend on how Toto [Wolff] and the team’s upper management, people like Andrew Shovlin and James Allison, handle the situation as well like the drivers’ personalities.”