Mercedes driver George Russell has been set a new challenge involving his team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
George Russell has been informed that, in the lead-up to the Las Vegas Grand Prix, he should be consistently challenging Lewis Hamilton, his Mercedes teammate. Russell made an impression when he transferred from Williams to the Silver Arrows in 2022, but he has found it difficult to match the seven-time world champion this season.
Due to criticism of his performance this season, Russell is currently eighth in the Drivers’ Championship, 70 points behind Hamilton in third. Although he hasn’t claimed a podium finish since the June Spanish Grand Prix, he will believe that he ought to be competing at the front of the grid more frequently.
Former McLaren driver Mark Blundell has challenged Russell to perform alongside Hamilton more often as he admitted that he is “concerned” that the Brit will not be able to take the leap forwards and become an elite driver capable of competing for championships.
”George is interesting as I haven’t quite seen the next step in progress. He puts a lap together and he can do an incredibly quick one, but he’s still not quite taken it to Lewis. We’ve seen Lewis come back and be the stronger part of the equation, and that’s down to his experience and depth. I don’t know.
“I think the next step is there for George, but I’m not sure he has the confidence to take it on, and I’m concerned it’ll never be seen next season. I think he needs to step up and he has to take it to Lewis and make sure he’s second in line all the time! That’s the only way George’s stock can go up.”
Russell is confident after his DNF at the Brazilian GP that he and Mercedes will not “fall into that same trap” in Las Vegas, with the 25-year-old confident of bouncing back. “We definitely have some answers, and we’ve got a number of things that we can put down to our poor performance,” Russell said.
But this is the nature of a Sprint race weekend. If you get it right, you’re on a good course and you’re in for a successful weekend, but if you get it wrong, you’ve got no opportunity to make amends.
“That was a demanding weekend because we were sort of stuck in our error. It demonstrates how delicate everything is, but we are certain that this weekend in particular, we won’t fall for the same trick.
Although Russell and Hamilton have been complaining about their W14 car a lot this season, Blundell pointed out that Russell should be operating at the same level as his teammate.