George Russell says the departure of Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes is such an enormous change that it’ll “spark a whole lot of motivation” because the group enters a brand new period.
Hamilton accomplished his ultimate race for Mercedes in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, forward of his transfer to Ferrari in 2025. The change means Mercedes is not going to have Hamilton as a part of its line-up for the primary time since 2012, when it ran Michael Schumacher alongside Nico Rosberg. Russell believes the departure serves as a reminder of what has been achieved, but in addition gives a recent begin.
“We had a do on Thursday evening [in Abu Dhabi] altogether, wanting again on a few of his recollections, and I feel as painful as these three years have been, I feel seeing all of those recollections as effectively reminds the group that we are able to do it,” Russell stated. “We’ve the identical group as was there throughout Lewis’s glory years.
“And Lewis even stated after the debrief, everybody had their head of their palms after what occurred in qualifying, however he stated ‘Look, let’s stand tall and never overlook of all these pole positions and wins that we’ve had collectively’. I feel it’s been a really good option to end this season.
“It has been a troublesome three years, and I feel this variation for everybody is de facto going to spark a whole lot of motivation for everybody. And I feel typically change is de facto a lot wanted.”
Russell stated his personal private classes realized from Hamilton are much less based mostly on his driving skills and extra the best way the seven-time world champion has carried himself as considered one of Formulation 1’s main figures.
“To be sincere, simply seeing first hand what a task mannequin he’s,” Russell stated. “I acknowledge from Lewis that we’ve all bought this platform, and we now have to make use of it accurately. That’s turn out to be much more obvious to me when, with my younger niece and nephews watching TikTok and YouTube and Netflix. I spend a little bit of time with Toto [Wolff]’s son, he and his associates see Netflix and all of these items.
“And the way you cope with the victories, the way you cope with the losses, you encourage the younger youngsters, and… once I look again to that photograph I had of Lewis and I once I was a child, I regarded as much as him, the identical approach as all these youngsters look as much as us. I feel that’s in all probability been the most important life lesson that I’ve realized from him, that typically, even if you wish to actually categorical one thing, there’s a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of individuals watching, and the best way do you it is vital.”
