Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes star driver has talked about his off the track relationship with Williams’ driver George Russell. With the rumours making rounds that Lewis and George aren’t on talking terms, the seven times world champion has put an end to all the speculations.
Before Hamilton renewed his contract with Mercedes just at the start of this season, there were speculations that Russell might sign for Mercedes in place of Lewis and Mercedes will start the season with the Williams’ driver and Valtteri Bottas. However, with Hamilton signing the contract, there are rumours that the relationship between the duo turned sour.
Today was incredibly tough. Glad that both George and Valterri were able to walk away ok. Huge congrats to Max, he did an awesome job and to Lando, great to see you and the team up on the podium. pic.twitter.com/uQUEKz2XKc
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) April 18, 2021
Lewis, in a conversation with The Sun, conveyed on this context, “Our relationship is 100 per cent still intact. It’s exactly the same. We messaged after his incident at Imola [Russell crashing into Bottas] and I hope you can see from the message I put on [social media] I’m supportive of him.”
Russell replaced Covid-struck Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes back in 2020 at Sakhir Grand Prix and performed pretty well. The 36-year-old British international further asserted, “He’s going through his own journey but he’s a great guy. He did a great job when he came to the team [at the Sakhir Grand Prix in 2020] and he’ll continue to do great jobs, so no issues.”
George Russell driving for Mercedes AMG F1 as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton in the 2020 Shakir Grand Prix. (Image courtesy: Getty Images)
Adding on, George Russell also clarified that there are no grudges among them and everything’s fine between the two Formula One stars.
Russell stated, “I think the question towards me was ‘did you speak to Lewis after Bahrain?’ And we didn’t speak, as we wouldn’t speak after any other race. We are racing against each other. If we would see each other in the paddock, we would speak. We’ve seen each other this year, a little fist-bump along the way, and that’s been the same since it has been since 2019.”
DHL AWARDS: 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix
Fastest Lap: @GeorgeRussell63
Fastest Pit Stop: @redbullracing #SakhirGP 🇧🇭 #MomentsThatDeliver @DHL_Motorsports pic.twitter.com/e4y3RYQswG
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 7, 2020
“My relationship towards Lewis is the same as it is with a lot of the drivers around the paddock, which is completely fine. There are no hard feelings or no issues between myself and Lewis.”, concluded the young British prodigy from Williams.
