Lewis Hamilton’s last-lap pass on George Russell in their final race together at Mercedes did not prevent the seven-times world champion being out-scored by his team mate over the course of 2024.
But it did put Hamilton narrowly ahead in the points battle between their pair over their three years as team mates. Hamilton scored 697 points to Russell’s 695: as near as makes no difference.Russell, however, ended their three years together ahead on every other metric. That will boost his confidence that he can assert himself as team leader alongside newcomer Andrea Kimi Antonelli next year.
After Hamilton’s off-season revelation that he would head to Ferrari for 2025, Russell held the upper hand at Mercedes from the start. By Monaco, Hamilton had suffered his seventh qualifying defeat in eight races, and said he didn’t expect to line up ahead of his team mate on the grid for the rest of the year.
Hamilton struggled more noticeably than Russell with the W15’s perplexing behaviour. Over a race stint he could usually make it comply, but by then he was usually playing catch-up after another Saturday disappointment. Time and again Hamilton declared himself happy with the car’s balance at the beginning of the weekend, only to turn sullen after another sub-par qualifying performance condemned him to a difficult grand prix.
Although victory somewhat fell into Russell’s hands in Austria, he could point to other occasions when he left a weekend feeling short-changed: Technical trouble struck with awful timing at Silverstone, the red flag likely cost him a win at Interlagos, and of course there was his post-win disqualification at Spa.
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When Russell arrived at Mercedes two years ago, few expected the eight-times champions were about to suffer not just one poor season, but the first of three. As a result, both drivers had to accept the pursuit of ultimate performance sometimes needed to take a back seat while they puzzled over the intricacies of another disappointing chassis.
But with Hamilton nearing 40, his often unconvincing final season at Mercedes will provoke inevitable questions about whether he’s past his best, or just wasn’t always able to deliver it in a car he plainly never clicked with. That’s a question which won’t be answered until we see him alongside Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.
Of course Hamilton’s next team principal, Frederic Vasseur, gave short shrift to the idea that the driver he just signed is losing his touch. He’ll be hoping he’s right, but Russell’s improving qualifying performance compared to Hamilton looks more like a trend than a one-off.
Hamilton vs Russell: 2022-24
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Hamilton vs Russell results summary
2022
| BAH | SAU | AUS | EMI | MIA | SPA | MON | AZE | CAN | GBR | AUT | FRA | HUN | BEL | NED | ITA | SIN | JAP | USA | MEX | BRZ | ABU | ||
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2023
| BAH | SAU | AUS | AZE | MIA | MON | SPA | CAN | AUT | GBR | HUN | BEL | NED | ITA | SIN | JAP | QAT | USA | MEX | BRZ | LAS | ABU | ||
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2024
| BAH | SAU | AUS | JAP | CHI | MIA | EMI | MON | CAN | SPA | AUT | GBR | HUN | BEL | NED | ITA | AZE | SIN | USA | MEX | BRZ | LAS | QAT | ABU | ||
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Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Negative value: Hamilton was faster; Positive value: Russell was faster
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Formula 1
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pcxmac (@pcxmac)
16th December 2024, 11:49
1 second over 3 years isn’t terrible, especially if your boss is using a new ‘concept’ as subterfuge to usher in your replacement. It took 3 years for George to really overcome Hamilton, BUT, it was clear Lewis was missing something on corner exit, in a big way, and almost during this whole period of time was Lewis slower down the straight compared to George. The trend line is very linear, the behaviors of the engineers towards Lewis, also very clear. It’s business, but the fact that Lewis was 3rd place last year, and no where this year due to most likely ‘setup’ issues which kept his car from ‘feeling alive’, well. ahem.
Trends that consistent don’t come about unless there is a lot of ‘support’ under girding it’s linearity. The pattern is clear, and it’s remarkable, how fast Russell cuts back after bottoming out, except for one period in 22 w/ Suzuka, COTA + Maybe Lewis was feeling better during that period, and looking optimistic towards his place in the championship. All other times there is a very clear ‘rebound’, or either an operator opposing/supporting regression, or Lewis’ over confidence.
The center of the function appears to be @ Canada 23′. Admirably, Lewis never let the gap go any farther than Jeddah 22, where it was @ 0.663′. With all the ceiling hits after Canada 23′. it looks like Ham might have actually capped Russell, and might have been able to take the trend the other way, off a 3 year pattern-correction, there abouts 4-6 months long. Which could have destroyed Toto’s business plans in seeing George ‘perceived’ as the better.
Russell never sees anything better than Jeddah 22, he might be lucky to beat Hamilton next year in a Ferrari that isn’t having problems coming out of the corner. W/ Mercedes engineering staff unable to influence the results, and the clear conflict of business interests, in a different garage, don’t be surprised to see Lewis kill it next year.
Chris Horton
16th December 2024, 14:02
What in the fever dream have I just read?
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
16th December 2024, 20:16
@pcxmac without dipping into conspiracy theories, it’s fairly clear that Mercedes didn’t bother trying to make the car more compliant for Lewis after he announced pre-season he was leaving.
DMC
17th December 2024, 17:00
Or not because he is past his best! It happens.
Jeffrey Powell
16th December 2024, 11:52
George would be top of my list in drivers I would like to see in the same car as Verstappen competing directly with him , the two of them going into the first corner of a grand prix would be more than interesting. It would obviously lead to multiple grand prix winners as our two heroes would likely end up with huge penalties or just plain diqualified.
Riccard
16th December 2024, 15:32
George had a great season, but he did make mistakes, and was sometimes outpaced by Hamilton (as in the last race).
He clearly beat Hamilton overall, and made fewer mistakes than Norris, but I have to put him lower than Verstappen.
I probably have
1. Verstappen
2. Leclerc
3. Russell (I’d say that Leclerc/Russell is very close, though)
4. Norris
5. Sainz
Riccard
16th December 2024, 15:33
Actually, sorry, you weren’t saying you thought Russell was the best driver were you – you just said you thought he was the one you’d most like to see next to Verstappen.
Personally I would love to see any of Leclerc/Russell/Norris/Sainz in there next to him, but I agree Russell in particular would be a great pick.
Jeffrey Powell
16th December 2024, 11:53
Of disqualified sorry.
Wer
16th December 2024, 11:59
Hamilton, Perez, Ricciardo – least adaptable drivers.
Hamilton scored more points due to Mercedes’ failure in Spa, which resulted in Russell’s DQ.
I respect Lewis for continuing his career, but if he keeps being as easily frustrated with anything and everything, while getting destroyed by Leclerc, it will be unpleasant to watch. Unfortunately, he seems to have been too spoiled in his F1 career, to be able to recalibrate his expactations.
Ben
16th December 2024, 12:58
The same Hamilton that won races across multiple huge regulation changes. The changes in the cars have been that drastic that hes effectively changed series 3-4 times while he’s been in F1. But sure, he can only drive one style of car.
Wer
16th December 2024, 21:58
“The changes in the cars have been that drastic that hes effectively changed series 3-4 times while he’s been in F1.”
Which was his engineers’ problem, not his. Each time THEY produced a car that suited him perfectly. He didn’t have to adapt to anything.
Edvaldo
16th December 2024, 13:06
This is the first season ever in which Hamilton looked off the pace, so yeah, it’s a big stretch to put him together with Perez (whom he outscored with a considerably inferior car by the way) as the least adaptable when it’s happening for the first time in an 18-year career, in a season it was known he was leaving before it even began.
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
16th December 2024, 13:20
LOL!! Putting Hamilton in with Perez and Riccardo is the biggest comedy joke of the year.
Yet another who cherry picks information to be the latest WUM and ignores all the evidence from 2009/10/12/13/17 or 18 and that’s not even mentioning his two debut seasons.
David West
16th December 2024, 14:10
And Hamilton had his DSQ in the US last season.
Plus three times in 2022 the SC helped Russell over Hamilton.
DNFs cost Hamilton more points than Russell.
Russell was quicker in qualifying overall an Hamilton quicker in race pace overall.
osnola
16th December 2024, 17:50
Missed spa this year it seems…
Ben
16th December 2024, 20:12
Literally in the first comment….
osnola
17th December 2024, 14:31
tell that to david here..
MichaelN
16th December 2024, 12:01
It’s disappointing that we never saw Russell and Hamilton in the 2021 car together. It would have been interesting to have a comparison prior to the the 2022-spec cars. As various drivers have hinted at, the 2022-spec cars are a bit different to drive. And this is a game in which tenths of a second matter.
Either way, Russell did very well to edge out Hamilton on so many points.
It’ll be interesting to see how Hamilton does next year.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
16th December 2024, 14:30
It can’t be proven but I think Russell would have easily won the championship with the 2021 Mercedes
Prab
16th December 2024, 15:09
What!?
How are some people so delusional.
Riccard
16th December 2024, 15:38
Russell is better than Hamilton today… but in 2021, Hamilton was at the peak of his powers.
Although Russell today is one of the best drivers on the grid, he isn’t as good as Hamilton at his best. And Hamilton at his best still lost to Verstappen.
Broadly I’d say
2024 Verstappen > 2021 Verstappen > 2021 Hamilton > 2024 Russell > 2024 Hamilton > 2021 Russell.
Hans Herrmann (@twentyseven)
17th December 2024, 15:34
+1
This is next level subjective reasoning LOL! It’s sort of what F1 is all about.. Something in the F1 fans brain cannot accept the fact that it’s impossible to compare drivers in different machinery. At least you’ve taken into account the driver improvement/decline curve.
I wrote a similar comment in another thread which is in line with your comment. The best drivers of today are a notch above the best ever due to training, techniques and larger driver pool but Max is a notch above the best. The best being Fernando, Lewis, George, Lando, George and Charles and Carlos with Oscar a notch below.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
16th December 2024, 22:41
Verstappen in the Ferrari would have wiped the floor with him.
Cdfemke
16th December 2024, 21:47
Back then Lewis was still very solidly the 1st driver. No way russell would be allowed to seriously race him
Edvaldo
16th December 2024, 12:20
If Hamilton somehow fixes his qualy form, he’ll be fine.
That’s the only issue holding him back from better results.
Hans Herrmann (@twentyseven)
17th December 2024, 15:52
Ya, like if Usain Bolt could just run sub 9.5s he’d be right back on top again!
Ben
16th December 2024, 12:53
Hamilton was arguably one of the strongest drivers in 23. Battling for P2 in the Championship( which he’d probably have got without the Austin DSQ) He had some fantastic races this season too and once up to pace with the Ferrari I expect he’ll be right at the front again.
This year it’s clear that he’s been experimenting much more than Russell. It’s not sabotage! There’s no conspiracy! It’s teamwork in a team sport.
Russell took on that job in Abu Dhabi to allow Hamilton the best shot at a good final result and the pace difference looked exactly the same as how far Hamilton has been off for most of the season.
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
16th December 2024, 13:21
I agree there was no conspiracy.
It would simply be madness to be giving Hamilton the best of the choices. And in fact both he and Toto have alluded to the fact the Lewis was happy to help the team – once it was clear neither drivers had a chance of the championship.
anon
16th December 2024, 15:02
It’s fairly standard practice for teams to also restrict the access that drivers moving to a rival team have to engineering debriefing sessions, along with technical data and set-up information, given that could provide useful information to the team they are going to.
We know that Ferrari have been doing that with Sainz, even though Williams are not really a threat to Ferrari, and Mercedes were also doing the same thing with Hamilton. It’s from the pragmatic argument of protecting the interests of the team, even if it may slightly hamper that driver.
MichaelN
16th December 2024, 16:00
The same was the case in the first half of 2022 (another period where Russell gets a lot of green checks). I suppose we’ll never know how often these guys were really doing the same thing. We do know Mercedes has said numerous times that Hamilton was doing something different, and especially in 2022 this lined up pretty well with him losing out to Russell.
Even if the difference was perhaps influenced by Hamilton doing ‘team duty’ on multiple occasions, Russell still did a great job to perform as he did.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th December 2024, 16:43
2 Perez MEX
Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT
285
3 Hamilton GBR
Mercedes
234
I don’t see how hamilton would’ve got more points than perez if not for that DQ; I was annoyed too and at the time it was a close battle, but in the last few races it just wasn’t.
Ajaxn
16th December 2024, 14:14
Whilst you guys bury your heads in the sand, when are we going to see a similar comparison on race pace?
notagrumpyfan
16th December 2024, 14:51
I still rate Hamilton higher than Russell.
But Russell did beat Hamilton; not just this year but also when reviewing the three year stint.
Unfortunately this is not the result of Russell getting to the level of Hamilton’s abilities, but more a result of Hamilton wanting to give up too easily. Too often he complained on the radio “we have no speed, man”, “how can they be ahead”, or even wanting to retire the car, rather than focussing on getting the most out of a sub-optimal package.
But then again sometimes he suddenly wakes up (at times halfway through a race) and shows his real skills.
Hopefully, he can show these skills more regularly at Ferrari. It would be a(n extra) crown on his career if he gets another WDC with the red team.
But part of his lesser performances over the past years seems to be related to his age. Just a competitive car will not be good enough anymore.
Oliver Hawk
16th December 2024, 17:08
When button outscored hamilton over 3 years, you never made an article saying why hamilton was actually better. And in the case of hamilton and button, it’s very clear that hamilton was the superior driver but he had an insane amount of bad luck (particularly in 2012). I expect nothing more from this website. you have been anti-hamilton for ever.
Ajaxn
16th December 2024, 18:21
The moment Hamilton announced he had enough of the Mercedes’s excuses for a poor car and was moving on, his fate was sealed. It was inevitable that Mercedes would squander potential championship points to make Russell look better than he is.
Mercedes had to boost the standings of their new #1, whether this helps or hinders Russell’s development, we will have to wait and see. Russell’s stats real or manufactured is now part of the history for the superficialist to recall.
Mercedes may take the sandbags off now that Hamilton has gone or else continue on their quest to finish 4th again and thereby maximize development time for the next spec car.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
16th December 2024, 20:21
Nonsense. The team just decided to not bother acquiescing to Lewis’s requests for the car, because he’s leaving. The cars are basically copy & paste jobs for next year, so why wouldn’t they prioritise their retained driver?
David BR (@david-br)
16th December 2024, 22:30
@optimaximal Whichever way you look at it, it basically comes out the same. Russell prioritized – and also made to look better relative to the guy who ditched the team.
CP
16th December 2024, 18:27
So Russell beat Hamilton at his worst, nearing 40 in a team he is leaving….wow big deal.
Oliver Hawk
16th December 2024, 19:17
Absolutely disgraceful journalism. They are equal on the actual race head to head statistic, but you have chosen a statistic that suits your russell is better agenda.
You say “Russell, however, ended their 3 years together ahead on every other metric”. This is not true, for example, hamilton finished with more podiums.
You talk about all of Russell’s bad luck with no mention of the bad luck hamilton has had over their years as teammates.
I expect no more from a website that has been anti hamilton for years. When hamilton and button were teammates, you would never release an article comparing the two of them which didn’t favour button.
I imagine you will take this comment down because you can’t handle legitimate criticism.
osnola
17th December 2024, 14:29
Bob
16th December 2024, 21:35
The only stat that puts Lewis over George is the one to get highlighted. It’s getting anoying how civilized the British keep doing this compared to other drivers, who get trashed far to often by using their negative stats.
Lewis is a great driver, he has great numbers, but the stats compared to his teammates put his numbers in perspective. George and Nico beat him far to often to be part of the greatest. Compared to Senna and Schumy vs their teammates, he’s just to far behind.
PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
16th December 2024, 22:46
I’ve bookmarked and saved this page so I can come back in 12 months and say “How do you like them apples” to all those who said Lewis was etc etc etc….
Bill Niehoff (@justafan)
17th December 2024, 1:41
IMHO, 2021 left Lewis so demoralized he could not recover, and the sub-par products from Mercedes didn’t help. I am hopeful that Ferrari will be the change he needs to snap out of it.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
17th December 2024, 8:01
Such a shame for George’s lost win in Spa, he really deserved that one. With that, or a podium there, he would have been ahead on points as well.
Ajaxn
17th December 2024, 15:03
Yeah, had he taken a second pitstop like Hamilton did, he would have finished fifth with the mandatory heavier tires.
Yeah it’s such a shame he made that call which got him disqualified.