George Russell believes the clashes he encountered with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the 2023 Formula 1 season are “normal when you’re close in performance.”
The Mercedes drivers almost made contact twice in Japan as they duelled for position before Hamilton then defied the suggestion to hand the one-stopping Russell DRS to protect his place against Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz during the closing stages at Suzuka.
Those simmering on-track tensions came to a head at the next round in Qatar when Mercedes missed a chance to secure a potential win when Hamilton was eliminated after tagging Russell at Turn 1 as he attempted to overtake both his team-mate and Max Verstappen for an early race lead.
Prior to those incidents, the pair had touched in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, while a miscommunication saw Russell hinder Hamilton’s flying lap at Spa-Francorchamps.
However, Russell has downplayed the significance of those run-ins, insisting that such episodes are inevitable when two evenly matched drivers are within one team.
“I think it’s normal when you’re so close in performance, when you’re lapping at the same lap times or you’re starting next to one another on the grid – you’re always going to be close,” Russell explained to Autosport.
“We always go through our strategies [in] meetings. The pace difference between the two of us is zero.
“We’re always going to be going across a 24-race season, an average of 60 laps per race, we cross paths a lot and he’s the driver I cross paths with the most.
“So, I think that’s probably what we put it down to.”
Expanding on the Qatar crash which relegated him to the back of the field in the sole remaining Mercedes, Russell reckons only a “small misjudgement” was to blame.
The Briton asserts that he and Hamilton still “trust one another” to not overstep the mark when it comes to wheel-to-wheel combat despite their various close calls last season.
“I think also we trust one another,” he continued. “There may be tense [moments], it may be hard, but we trust one another.
“We know that we’ll give each other enough space to fight necessarily and not go beyond the limit.
“Obviously, Qatar was just a bit of a lap one small misjudgement. That’s another opportunity where it was another podium or even a potential victory missed.”
Although the Mercedes duo were tied in the qualifying head-to-head, Russell rued a multitude of errors that contributed to him ending up 59 points behind his team-mate.
However, the ex-Williams racer, who labelled 2023 the “toughest season I’ve ever had psychologically”, is convinced that those mistakes – which include crashing out from third place in Singapore – could be attributed to him pushing the limits to usurp Hamilton.
“I’m purposely trying to push myself further and beyond,” he added. “I’m not satisfied with just being on par with my team-mate in qualifying or whatever it may be.
“Or last year [when] we were very even across the whole season. I want to be ahead.
“That’s what I’m pushing myself for. Perhaps that’s been a small reason for contributing to a couple more mistakes.”
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