Mercedes driver George Russell has had a very strong start to the 2024 Formula 1 campaign.
Unsurprisingly, the focus has been on his teammate Lewis Hamilton ever since George Russell joined Mercedes and that hasn’t changed this year despite the seven-time world champion already agreeing to race for Ferrari in 2025.
In an interview with the Beyond The Grid Podcast, technical director James Allison has been speaking about the one-time race winner.
While the car has only just proved to be capable of racing the likes of Red Bull and McLaren at the front of the grid, Russell has convincingly been the stronger driver within the team.
Hamilton allowed Russell to use their only new front wing in Monaco and that helped him finish ahead of Max Verstappen on the streets of the principality.
While Russell has always been quick, Allison has admitted that he wouldn’t have predicted him to dominate his teammate like he has in qualifying this season.
Senior Mercedes staff will hope it’s a sign that Russell is ready to step up and lead the team, especially with regulations coming in 2026.
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James Allison wouldn’t have predicted George Russell dominating Lewis Hamilton in qualifying
When Hamilton announced he would be joining Ferrari next year before the current campaign had even begun, it raised a lot of questions.
Primarily, what did Hamilton know about Mercedes’s future that meant he felt like he needed to make a change so late in his career, even if the lure of Ferrari was obvious?
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However, for the first time in his Formula 1 career, George Russell was suddenly handed the chance to be a frontrunner on the grid.
After three difficult years at Williams where he impressed in a very poor car, he was finally promoted in place of Valtteri Bottas in 2022.
He nearly won his first F1 race in Bahrain when he deputised for Hamilton in 2020, but some poor strategy calls and issues in the pit lane denied him even though he was clearly quicker than Bottas.
Russell finished ahead of Hamilton during his first full season with the 39-year-old in 2022 and won the team’s only race of the season in Brazil which remains the last Grand Prix that Mercedes won.
Hamilton has a reputation for being unbelievably fast over one lap and holds the record for most pole positions in Formula 1 history.
It’s why Allison has admitted that he wouldn’t have predicted Russell to outqualify Hamilton in the way that he has this year.
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George Russell dominating Lewis Hamilton over one lap this season
Journalist Tom Clarkson asked: “Let’s talk drivers now if we could. George has out-qualified Lewis 8-1 so far this year. Okay, the gap between them is very small, rarely more than a tenth of a second.
“But does that stat surprise you?”
Allison replied: “Yeah, I wouldn’t have predicted 8-1. And I think that for a chunk of the year, the car has been a pretty troubled beast.
“It’s become a much, much better car in the last two or three races.
“And with that, I think the judgements about who may or may not put it in front of the other car become more meaningful because the car is less of a random number generator.
“But, you know, Lewis has not by accident been the best qualifier in the history of the sport because I think he’s been the best driver in the sport. But he’s struggling to make it stick this year by fine margins, as you say.”
Russell will hope that he can match his pole position in Canada at the Spanish Grand Prix although that will be easier said than done.
Mercedes have gone in a completely new direction with one part of their car which appears to have closed the gap to the top teams on the grid.
Russell will hope that development continues, particularly when he’s going to be the number one driver at Mercedes next year if Kimi Antonelli arrives as expected as his teammate.
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