George Russell, Lewis Hamilton rivalry heats up with Mercedes preferring “lions” over “puppy dogs”

Mercedes has been in turmoil since the last race in the Qatar Grand Prix. The former champion of the group, Lewis Hamilton, has been suspended for the remainder of the season and reprimanded for his actions.

Since then, there has been an invisible tension between George Russell and Hamilton, which is sensed by the audience. However, Mercedes Chef dismissed the topic by saying such things are common in the Industry and are not anything to worry about.

Mercedes Chief addresses Hamilton-Russell feud after Qatar GP collision

The intense collision between Hamilton and Russell has raised questions on both of the drivers’ capabilities, especially Hamilton since he has been in the Industry for so long.

Lord, Mercedes Chef described the incident as the “worst case scenario” that could ever happen to Mercedes.

 He said, “It’s clear that lap one, two cars coming together and one in the gravel, one in the pits, is pretty much the worst scenario that a racing team can see,” the Mercedes communications chief conceded.

“Number one is you never want to see the cars making contact. So Lewis went in around the outside of Turn 1, George didn’t have anywhere to go, and they made contact.”

“I don’t think it’s really for me to stand here and apportion blame or talk about it in the debrief.”

“But I think what we can say is that champions don’t just stand up in the easy moments and the successful ones, also when it’s difficult, and it’s a real testament to Lewis’ character that he’s come out and said what he has done and apologize to the team as well.”

Lewis Hamilton takes blame for collision with Russell

The seven-time World Champion took responsibility for his actions and sincerely apologized to not only the team but to Geroge Russell too, by having a conversation with him, off camera.

Despite all of this, the audience claims there is still a cold war ongoing between the two drivers.

Lord therefore said, “It’s not my job to smooth everything out, there should be a little bit of tension there because they are competitors and we don’t want puppy dogs in the car, we want lions and that’s what we’ve got.”

“So of course there’s tension and the real challenge is how do you build a healthy and trusting relationship? And how do you work together as a team to achieve the team’s objectives? And they’re both able to do that.”

“I think Lewis again, has paid tribute to the quality of his relationship with George after the race and they’ll talk about this, put it behind them, and then we’ll come back even stronger in Austin as a team.”

Do you think George will further be able to improve the team’s performance by himself? Do let us know in the comment section below.