Former Ferrari and Williams manager Peter Windsor has questioned the balance between the two Mercedes team-mates, suggesting that George Russell wouldn’t be driving for the team if it was up to Lewis Hamilton.
The seven-time world champion was extremely vocal in his appreciation for former team-mate Valtteri Bottas during their time together at Mercedes, and the 38-year-old was pushing for Toto Wolff to retain the Finnish driver beyond 2021.
However, with Russell waiting patiently in the wings after impressing during his time with Williams, Wolff opted not to renew Bottas’ deal. He instead made the switch to Alfa Romeo where he has endured an underwhelming 18 months in the lower midfield.
Speaking about the state of play at Mercedes after the Japanese Grand Prix, Windsor explained: “The point is this should also be seen in the context of Lewis telling Toto endlessly to keep Valtteri, ‘He’s exactly the right guy’, and [Toto saying] ‘No no, no, we’ve got to have the next generation, George is the next generation, and quicker.’
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“I blame a lot of the press for that because a lot of them were saying ‘Oh, you know Valtteri isn’t quick enough, George is quicker’ and, of course, then he won that race.
“I just come back to my thing of… if you’ve got Lewis, you don’t actually need George. If you’ve got George, you don’t need Lewis. It’s an imbalanced team, always has been, always will be, and that is the problem with it.”
While Hamilton has only supported Russell in the public eye, the duo have had their fair share of hairy moments on track this season. The latest of these came at the Japanese GP when Hamilton shoved his team-mate wide on the exit of Spoon corner, prompting a frustrated radio message from Russell.
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During their time as Mercedes team-mates, Hamilton and Bottas had no such falling out. Looking back on the duo’s time together earlier this year, Hamilton explained: “There is always this delicate path to walk down, and it’s very easy to be on the wrong side, and you fall out.
“Valtteri and I never fell out. We always just spoke on things. He was very much just like he’s got to do a better job, or I’ve got to do a better job, if one of us beat each other. And we worked together to try and push the team together. We had amazing years together where he supported me, and I supported him.”
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