Can Russell at Mercedes in 2022 Do What Hamilton Did at McLaren in 2007?

george russell in 2022 is going to be a mercedes driver to think that we'll have yet another generational talent in a potentially championship capable car just adds another layer to the already highly anticipated 2022 season russell after three years has fought for his chance at a top drive and now that he's been given it he will need to deliver on the potential and the hype that has surrounded him during his time at williams and he'll need to also be able to do it under a level of pressure like never before unquestionably one of the most exciting aspects of the 2022 mercedes driver lineup will be the inevitable rivalry that we're going to see between hamilton and russell next season and so i wanted to ask the question could george russell in 2022 do what hamilton did in his rookie season in 2007 and topple an established world champion at the very first time of asking now i will say right off the bat that the hamilton alonso combination arguably isn't the most accurate comparison i could have made because in truth even though hamilton was classified above alonzo in the championship let's not forget that they both finished on the same number of points at the end of 2007. if anything the 2014 ricardo and vettel partnership is almost identical to what we're going to see at mercedes in 2022 a four-time world champion who literally had just come off the back of winning four straight titles having the entire team under his control and up against a young driver in ricardo who at the time only had two and a half seasons of f1 in an hrt and toro rosso looking back it still doesn't seem real that seb in the space of less than a year went from breaking records and winning nine straight on the way to his fourth title to playing a second fiddle to a young charger and then eventually getting pushed out of the team that previously was in the palm of his hand so yes that comparison is much more apt but considering that russell's teammate will be lewis the 07 mclaren comparison is just much more emotionally driven but let's quickly cover what exactly happened at mclaren in 2007 ron dennis over a year earlier towards the end of 2005 had agreed for fernando alonso to join the mclaren team for 2007. fernando even though he was still young at the time would be the team's surefire world championship caliber driver that you knew could lead a team and that if given the right car would always be able to challenge for a world title for fernando the motivation was obvious despite winning back-to-back titles with the renault he knew mclaren was still a step above in terms of budget and in terms of facilities and the capabilities of being able to dominate in the future and as someone who idolized senna growing up fernando on multiple occasions throughout his career has talked about how much he loved mclaren and how much he wanted to win a title for them as well however then you throw in a young lewis hamilton into the equation now lewis was ron dennis's protege he had been with mclaren since the age of 13. he had dominated the junior ranks and was finally given the chance to make his f1 debut for mclaren in 2007. now one thing that must be clarified is that although both drivers were new to mclaren and although lewis was just a rookie unlike the testing restrictions of today lewis had done thousands of testing miles and had multiple grand prix distances and simulations under his bell so although he was just a rookie he was highly experienced within the team and was very prepared for formula one even so fernando was still the defending double world champion and was still the most likely to be the team leader with lewis playing a proverbial number two role of course things didn't turn out that way and mclaren yet again topped their previous record with cena and prost and once again created one of the most toxic and controversial team environments in f1 history now there have been countless videos including some by me about the 2007 season but if you want an in-depth look into both the lewis and fernando perspective then i'll have those videos linked below to summarize what happened in 2007 though strangely i'm going to echo what the ever controversial flavio briatori said in his beyond the grid f1 podcast because i actually think that he summarized it pretty well by saying that no one not even ron dennis despite what he wants to say expected lewis to be as good as he actually was and to be challenging for the world title in his rookie season in reality if ron knew what was coming he'd have never put two of the greatest drivers and two massive personalities in the same team if you wanted to win the world title ultimately that's what it came down to no one could have predicted what lewis would have become but here we are 14 years later and with a driver like russell who is immensely talented and very hungry coming into lewis's team where everyone expects him to still be the number one in terms of fighting for the title next year could we see a similar story with george matching or even beating lewis at the very first time of asking now really quickly i just wanted to say that if you're enjoying this video or have enjoyed some of my other content then don't forget to subscribe to the channel as over 73 of the people currently watching my videos are unsubscribed i put a lot of work and time into these videos so it would be greatly appreciated but now let's get back into it the first thing to mention is that george is definitely coming into a much better environment toto wolff has been straight and honest with both of the drivers from the very beginning and more importantly lewis and george both have a huge amount of respect for each other and already a huge amount of knowledge about how good the other one is as well in terms of fitting into the team russell already feels like the mercedes third driver anyway although he hasn't done anywhere near as much mileage as lewis did before he came to mclaren relative to modern day standards russell has already done a huge amount of running for the team apart from his big mercedes debut in sakia he's also done various demo runs as well as mid-season and end-of-season tire tests in every single mercedes car since 2017. now yes although 2022 is a brand new regulation period that experience of just being with the mercedes team and knowing the way mercedes work it gives him this familiarity that lewis also already had when he became a full-time mclaren driver in 2007. one of the biggest things that george will have to do is really build the team around him and this is something that nico rosberg and jensen bottom talked about on sky george is stepping into lewis's team but he needs to be putting in the hours not just at the track with his crew in the garage but also back at the factory that's what really builds the relationship deep within the team and when you have that relationship with the people back at the factory and all of the engineers you gain more respect within the team and you also have a bigger voice when it comes to things like strategy and car development having that kind of influence within the team is what puts you as a driver in the best possible position and if george wants to beat lewis in 2022 he's not going to do it by just following and listening to what lewis and mercedes have to say he has to find his voice within the team and he has to get them on his side as well however all of this is secondary to the biggest question which is just how fast is george russell really going to be against lewis as mentioned earlier that's what ultimately surprised alonso dennis mclaren and even formula one itself when it came to lewis hamilton qualifying fourth on his grand prix debut and then on the very first corner in his very first race putting an outrageous move around the outside of fernando alonso in australia told us everything that we needed to know about the kind of driver that lewis was going to become in just his very first corner of formula one when it comes to george i've talked at length about why i believe he is such an exceptional talent and someone who in my opinion is going to win multiple formula one world championships when it comes to qualifying i am genuinely so excited to see how all of those great qualifying performances in the williams translate to mercedes against lewis in 2022. we all know that george around one lap is amongst the best in formula one but it's going to be so intriguing to see how he compares against hamilton and verstappen who are the absolute best qualifiers on the grid but now with the added pressure where it's not like qualifying in the top five will be a good result for george when fighting against drivers like lewis and max for titles realistically anything other than qualifying on the front row is gonna be a failure to beat lewis george is going to have to show that champions mentality and that championship level of speed from the very beginning for him it's all about the preparation and that's something that only he can control of course just like with luis and fernando in o7 there's always two sides to every coin and the other side of course is lewis hamilton himself whether or not lewis wins the 2021 title i don't think it will really affect his confidence going into 2022 because at the very least he's proven that even if the car isn't quite on the level of the red bull he is still a formidable driver who will push anyone until the end although lewis understands that a talent like russell deserves a chance in a mercedes he's also very aware of just how good george will be and he's also very aware that potentially just like in 2007 having two drivers fight for a title might compromise both of their abilities to win the drivers championship that's why i personally don't believe in the narrative that hamilton is scared to fight against russell he's just realistic in understanding that if mercedes want to win more drivers and constructors titles in the short term then the combination of hamilton and bottas would be a more cohesive pairing unlike fernando in 2007 however lewis is already very established at mercedes and he will know with toto wolff what the dynamic will be between the two drivers again a large part in the breakdown between hamilton alonzo and dennis was just plain bad management and bad communication i don't think that that would be a problem with totowolf and whilst i do think that we're gonna see some friction between lewis and george at some point in the season which is only natural when you put two drivers of that quality in the same team i also think that toto wolf would have learned how to better control two top drivers who both want to fight for a world title after lewis and nico in the end just like before the 2007 season started the more experienced world champion is going to be the predominant favorite heading into the season and rightly so but even though the circumstances and the setting are different just like in 2007 when you put a special talent like russell who is so hungry to prove himself and then when you finally give him a car that could potentially fight for a title you just can't count out a special young driver doing something extraordinary when given the right circumstances so could george russell beat lewis in his very first season at mercedes yes that is absolutely a possibility but will he actually be lewis next year well that is a much much harder question to answer at the moment and for that i'm going to hand it over to you to decide [Music] well that wraps up this video don't forget to let me know all of your thoughts in the comments box below and if you did enjoy this video then don't forget to drop a like and smash that subscribe button as well and of course i'll see you in the next one [Music] foreign

Channel: Aldas

Views: 184,156

Keywords: Can Russell at Mercedes in 2022 Do What Hamilton Did at McLaren in 2007?, george russell mercedes, George Russell mercedes 2022, Mercedes sign Russell, Russell Mercedes, Russell Mercedes 2022, Aldas, Aldas F1, Mercedes sign George Russell for 2022

Id: J3Pyhh4oklo

Length: 13min 4sec (784 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021