Lewis Hamilton branded ‘spoilt’ as ex-F1 ace makes George Russell comparison | F1 | Sport

Former F1 driver Marc Surer has claimed that Lewis Hamilton’s current struggles with the W15 can be attributed to the fact that he has not had to drive midfield machinery throughout his F1 career to date. George Russell’s experience at Williams, therefore, has helped him to extract the maximum from his package. 

During the turbo-hybrid era, Hamilton forged an iconic partnership with Mercedes, winning six Drivers’ Championship titles and etching his name into the history books becoming the F1 driver with the most wins, podiums and pole positions in history.

However, Mercedes have struggled since the 2022 technical regulation changes and in the first year of the ground-effect era, Russell won the head-to-head in decisive fashion. Hamilton bounced back in 2023, but his team-mate appears to once again have a better understanding of the machinery in 2024.

Speaking on the Formula1.de YouTube channel, Surer said: “If the car is not good, then Russell drives better because he has had to struggle for years with this Williams with a car that is relatively poorly positioned. Lewis has only ever driven the best cars. That means that if the car doesn’t do what Lewis wants, then he has a problem.

“And that’s exactly how it is again at the moment. And Russell can live with compromises, just like [Fernando] Alonso. These are people who can simply adapt to the car. Lewis can’t do that. But remember, at the end of last year, when the car got better, the old Lewis was suddenly back again. »

Hamilton’s struggles to adapt to the W15 have come with brutal consequences in 2024. The legendary Brit has just eight points to his name after three races after an engine failure cut his race short in Melbourne last time out, leaving him 10th in the Drivers’ Championship standings. 

However, if the first two practice sessions of the Japanese Grand Prix are anything to go by, there could be some light at the end of the tunnel for Hamilton. “It was a great session, it was a really good session for us,” he said after FP2. “It was the best session that we’ve had this year, it’s the best the car has felt this year so far. So far, pretty positive.”

The 39-year-old also confirmed that he hadn’t been tinkering with the set-up as much as in previous weekends, adding: “I haven’t really made any changes since [FP1]. I think we’ve got a better platform or baseline to start from, so as long as we don’t make too many changes and mess it up.”