George Russell doubts his relationship with Lewis Hamilton will break down if they fight for the F1 title, but admits that it will have a “different dynamic”.
The 2022 Formula 1 season was the first year for Hamilton and Russell as Mercedes teammates. Their cooperation proved to be successful as the British drivers did not have major disagreements throughout the season. However, they had to deal with a difficult W13 car and they were not fighting for the title.
When asked whether his relationship with Hamilton will stay the same if they become title contenders, Russell said: “I mean naturally if you are fighting for 1-2, there will be a slightly different dynamic and that’s only natural.
“But I think the thing we have going for us is the fact that we are at very different stages of our career.
“It kind of feels like we are in this together, really.
“If we get to next [season] and we’ve got a car that’s capable of 1-2 finishes, we will have a huge amount of pride in thinking we have contributed together in helping the team achieve this.
“And then we go about our business. But we’ve got no reason to have conflict. We have got a good relationship.
“We need to give each other respect, and I think we gave each other respect as an example.
“We recognize the importance of that within the whole team. If our relationship starts to break up, it’s going to have an impact on the team and ultimately it’s going to go full circle and affect us as well.
“I think we can continue to build off this and if anything our relationship will probably get closer as time goes on.”
