F1: Damon Hill warns George Russell he will have to drive ‘faster than he’s EVER driven’ at Mercedes

George Russell is learning pretty quickly that excuses don’t wash when you drive for Mercedes and 1996 world champion Damon Hill is not so sure the youngster will get much of a bedding-in period, either. 

Russell was brought in from Williams over the off season as a replacement for Valtteri Bottas and in an instant he has been catapulted from a back-marker with little hope of a points finish to an expectation of a podium at every single race.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will still be Mercedes’ go-to man but Hill knows how the paddock works and his advice may seem rudimentary to Russell but the message is clear: don’t be slow.

George Russell (left) is facing up to the pressure of being Lewis Hamilton’s (right) team-mate

Life at Mercedes will present a significant amount of pressure for 24-year-old Russell

‘Just make sure you’re fast!’ he tells Sportsmail when asked what he’d tell Russell ahead of lights out in Bahrain for the opening race on Sunday. 

‘You’re going to have to be possibly faster than you’ve ever driven before. 

‘It is a big step. He’s been in Formula One so he’s in tune with the business and he knows the team and they know him very well so it’s not completely out of his comfort zone. 

‘But it’s what happens if you find it harder to match your team-mate over a long period of time and you start getting questions. 

‘You don’t want to be getting those questions halfway through the season: “Was it harder than you thought? Was Lewis quicker than you thought? Do you think you can go any faster?” Those are the things that I am sure he will be keen to avoid.’

The Briton is not totally convinced in the car’s performance but he knows he has to deliver

Russell (left, pictured in 2019) came through the ranks in Formula One with Williams F1 team

Russell, who Hamilton has previously described as ‘amazing’, suggested during the second round of pre-season testing that Mercedes are currently behind rivals Red Bull and Ferrari heading into the season.

That drew criticism from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who felt it was ‘typical’ of a driver who has form for ‘hype’, the Spaniard claimed.  

‘Typical Mercedes, typical George – just hype up the others and then come to the first race and blow the competition away,’ Sainz moaned. 

‘If it would be the first year they’ve done it then I would maybe believe them but they’ve done it for five or six years now and they keep surprising us in the first race.

‘As you can imagine I don’t believe much… we can see what they are doing (on track) and I’m not going to say much.’

It was in Bahrain in 2020 that fans got a glimpse of the future – Russell flying around the track in a Mercedes.

Hamilton was absent following a positive Covid test and were it not for a bungled pit-stop it was widely expected that Russell would have picked up his first win in F1.

He has since come out and said it ‘would have been too much of a fairytale’ to have won during that Mercedes debut but Hill remains hopeful that that elusive win is coming in 2022. 

He impressed Mercedes but has now gone from a back-marker to a driver expecting podiums

‘The thing we will always remember him for is nearly winning his first ever race for Mercedes in Bahrain. What a great show he put on there,’ Hill added. 

‘He was emotional and keen for that to have gone the right way and how upset he was that it didn’t. 

‘He’s got a very good head on his shoulders but he’s passionate as well and that’s a good combination. 

‘I’m sure he will reason things out. He’s very articulate so you’ll get good answers, and direct answers from him, I’m sure.’

While this is as much a ‘one-to-watch’ with the Silver Arrows as to how Russell fares, it is an incredibly intriguing year ahead to how a scorned Hamilton bounces back to the disappointment of losing the title controversially to Max Verstappen on the last lap of the last race in 2021.

Hamilton took a lengthy social media break following the disappointment in Abu Dhabi but has come back looking refreshed to take another shot at winning a record eighth world title. 

In one sense for Hill, losing out to Verstappen last season in the manner that he did has eased the burden of responsibility atop Hamilton’s shoulders to go and break Michael Schumacher’s record of seven championships. 

‘I can’t see into Lewis’ head but I am just wondering whether this not getting it in a way has relieved him of that pressure,’ Sky Sports F1 expert Hill pondered. 

Russell has previously raced for Mercedes where a botched pit-stop by the team cost him the chance of a famous victory at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix having replaced Hamilton

‘He has got seven world titles and more race victories than anybody else and you saw Mick (Schumacher) presenting him with Michael’s helmet which, in a way, acknowledged that he has superseded Michael’s record. 

‘If he gets No 8 then fantastic, that would just be beyond (everyone). But if he doesn’t get the eight he’s had a fantastic career to look back on, it’s remarkable.’

Asked if he’d have had the amount of energy needed to keep plugging away for championships, Hill doubted he had the stomach for it back in his day.

‘I put everything I could into winning it once and I could have had another stab probably but I don’t know if I could keep doing it,’ he said. 

‘It’s an enormous amount of pressure to do it to yourself. 

‘I still think Lewis (Hamilton) is hungry and he really wants the eight.’

What Netflix’s most-recent Drive to Survive series showed was the universal desire throughout the paddock to see Mercedes, eight time constructors’ champions, knocked off their perch.

Hill is unquestionably an advocate of greater competition and for Mercedes to be under pressure – but not at the expense of turning a blind eye to misdemeanours on track.

‘I think that if my theory is correct, everyone wanted to spice the show up as much as they could (last season),’ he warned. 

 For Hamilton, he is refreshed and pushing to win a record eighth world championship this year

The Mercedes driver was denied by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in controversial fashion

‘They had had a long run of Mercedes dominance and they wanted another challenger and maybe they made small changes to allow the next challenger to bring competition to the show. 

‘If you remember how they modified the floor there was an argument at the start of the season that hurt Mercedes more than it hurt Red Bull. 

‘Whatever happened on track and in the design regulations, it seemed to be that everyone agreed they wanted more entertainment, more excitement and more racing and that is fine, I am totally in favour of that but what we don’t want to do is have inconsistent decision-making to turn a blind eye because that’s expedient.’

So now the gauntlet is laid down to Mercedes to put one of their driver pairing back on top.

And if that is to be Hamilton, Hill is keen to stress that Russell, no longer wearing a rookie tag, cannot find himself too far behind.

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