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The race in Hungary was a perfect example of how the tides have turned between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at Mercedes.
We had George messing up once again in a qualifying session, not for the first time this season. Sure, Mercedes had a role to play as well but the driver is certainly not devoid of blame. To make things worse, we had Russell's teammate secure the team's first pole position of the season.
The contrast could not have been more apparent. On one hand, we had a Mercedes in pole position, and on the other side, we had George Russell starting the race in P18. The worrying aspect about all of this was not what happened to Russell or what Hamilton was able to do in the car, it was the familiarity of the way things unraveled.
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Throughout the weekend, as it has become a bit of a pattern this season since the new Mercedes upgrade was introduced in Monaco, George Russell was playing catch up to Lewis Hamilton.
He was unable to extract the kind of performance his teammate was able to. In qualifying, while Lewis got the pole position with a stellar lap, one would speculate that Russell might not have been able to do the same.
So much so that in his second season with Mercedes, George Russell has not looked like a driver that Mercedes would have thought he was when he was first signed by the team.
George Russell was signed to be the successor of Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. After one and a half seasons with the team, questions need to be raised if the team has picked the right driver for the job.
Impressive debut season
George Russell came to Mercedes on the back of three impressive seasons with Williams. He was expected to do well within the team but nobody would have expected the kind of start he had. Here are some of the highlights of the season.
- First and only pole position for Mercedes
- First and only win for Mercedes
- Outscored teammate Lewis Hamilton by 35 points
The debut season with Mercedes featured George Russell beating Lewis Hamilton in the final points standings. While that was impressive, there was something that surprised the fans even more. It was the consistency he showed at the start of the 2022 F1 season while Lewis struggled.
What made his 2022 F1 season even more impressive was the comeback he scripted after Lewis went on an impressive podium streak. After losing his way a little in the middle of the season, Russell fought back with some impressive performances. The most notable of them is the win in Brazil.
While one could say that on balance the two drivers were well-matched over the course of a season, it was Russell who had the bigger highlights. Be it the first and only pole position for Mercedes in Hungary, or the first and only win in Brazil. After the first season, Russell left everyone impressed.
The 2023 F1 season has been disappointing
Fast forward to the 2023 F1 season, much was expected of George Russell. He'd spent one year with the team getting used to everything. The learning process was done and the focus was now supposed to be on the more important part of the equation, the evolution to being the lead driver.
Unfortunately, that has not happened. The rough edges are far too prominent and instead of being a finished product, Russell seems to be regressing. Here are some of the pointers that would be indicators of the kind of season Russell has had.
- He's 5-6 down in qualifying to teammate Lewis Hamilton
- The deficit is 3-8 in the races
- He's already 43 points behind Lewis
- Lewis has the first and only pole position for the Mercedes
The problem has not been these statistics alone. It has been Russell's error-prone nature this season. He spun off in Monaco and conceded a podium finish, he spun and damaged his car in Canada, and he messed up in Barcelona as well amongst other mistakes.
All this time Lewis Hamilton has continued to bring the points home and hold the Mercedes flag high.
Is George Russell the perfect Lewis Hamilton replacement?
A major headache that Toto Wolff will be facing right now is not the fact that George Russell is making too many errors, the headache will be the inherent lack of pace compared to Lewis Hamilton. If in the upcoming race, both Lewis and George perform at their best, most of the F1 pundits will pick the former champion to have the edge over the young charger.
The reason why this is not the best thing for Mercedes is because that's not what George Russell was brought to do. Let's get one thing straight, what Toto Wolff needs from a Lewis Hamilton successor is a driver that could beat Max Verstappen regularly. He needs a driver that could do to Max what Max did to Lewis when he dethroned him.
Right now, at close to 40 years of age, Lewis Hamilton is not in the prime of his career. It's safe to say that right now, Max Verstappen is the best he has ever been and arguably performing at a higher level than Lewis. If a driver brought in by Toto Wolff cannot even beat a Hamilton that is past his prime, then how can he be expected to beat Max?
This is where the conundrum comes in for Mercedes and Toto Wolff. Lewis won't be around for too long and he is not performing at a level similar to what Max Verstappen is right now.
If his supposed successor is doing a worse job than him, does it even make sense to continue with him? That's the question that the Mercedes boss will be tackling right now, and will be hoping George Russell takes his game up a notch.
