George Russell certain about Lewis Hamilton amid questions over Mercedes exit
Lewis Hamilton decided before the start of the 2024 F1 season to leave Mercedes for Ferrari after two seasons without a win while the Silver Arrows struggled to perform
George Russell insists Lewis Hamilton would not have signed with Ferrari had he predicted the improvements made by Mercedes this year.
This is Hamilton's 11th and final season with the Brackley-based team. He enjoyed so much success between 2014 and 2020 when they dominated the sport, but his final victory of the 2021 season in Saudi Arabia that December proved to be his last for a long, long time.
Two full seasons without a win and limited progress made by Mercedes under the current regulations saw the seven-time champion run out of patience. And before the start of the current season, he announced that he had agreed to start afresh with Ferrari from next term.
As it happens, Mercedes seem to have finally turned a corner. They have made significant performance improvements and, after Russell won in Austria, Hamilton finally ended a 945-day wait for a victory of his own with a masterclass at Silverstone.
Had he known that a 104th career victory and perhaps more were possible with the Silver Arrows, Russell is sure that Hamilton would not have decided to walk away. He told Reuters: "I don't think he would have left if the team was performing like this. No way he would have left, for sure not.
"For 2026 the PU [power unit] is looking really strong and everything we're doing with the fuels is looking great and there's a lot of optimism for us over the next couple of years. As tough as these last few years have been, it really feels like we've got the momentum with us now."
Russell went on to say that he understands why Hamilton chose to try something new, though, adding: "I think everybody wants change at some point. He's been here 12 years now, he's achieved so much with the team.
"I think for him it's exciting to have that change. But of course if the team you're currently with are winning races and everything is looking super great for the future, you just want to be in the fastest car possible and it doesn't matter what colour that is."
While Mercedes have made massive improvements, Ferrari have hit a difficult patch and look to have slipped behind Hamilton's current team in terms of performance. But after that British Grand Prix win Hamilton insisted he has no regrets over his decision.
He said: "When we started the season we had a car where we weren't going anywhere near Red Bull. The fact that we've really all come together, everyone's done such a great job to get the car into a place where we're feeling much more comfortable and really changes from the foundation from last year. So not leaving on a low, but leaving on a high, which has been our goal."
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