London, Sept. 20, (dpa/GNA) – Mercedes are keen to avoid the unhealthy rivalry which overshadowed Nico Rosberg’s time alongside Lewis Hamilton when George Russell joins the team next year.
The ambitious 23-year-old will partner fellow Briton and seven-times world champion Hamilton when he moves from Williams to replace Valtteri Bottas.
When Hamilton went to Mercedes in 2013 he had a series of tense run-ins with German Rosberg, Hamilton winning every title available except for 2013 and 2016, a year when Rosberg prevailed.
« George Russell has proven that he deserves to have a seat in a top car and now we need to get him properly adjusted into the Mercedes situation, » team boss Toto Wolff was quoted as saying on the F1 website on Monday.
« There’s a lot more pressure, he’s having an unbelievable team-mate with the biggest records and there it’s important that you condition him and you calibrate him in the right way.
« We’ve seen situations in the past where they’ve failed. Lewis was part of one where I think the team didn’t quite understand how it could potentially go and I think we’re maybe a little bit better prepared for that situation. »
Despite appearing to infer that Hamilton will be able to pull rank, Wolff still thinks Russell can excel for the team.
« He has all the ambition to be a future world champion and so has Lewis, to add another one, so it’s about calibration, » Wolff added.
Hamilton is currently in a thrilling battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for this season’s title with the next race in Russia on Sunday.
