Lammers: "For Hamilton, this is just really hard"

There is great surprise about the difference between George Russell and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. At the Imola Grand Prix, Russell again managed to finish ahead of the seven-time world champion with a big difference. Nevertheless, Dutch driver Jan Lammers expects Hamilton to get back up to speed.

While Russell drove from P11 to P4 in Imola, teammate Hamilton didn't get further than a thirteenth place. After the race, team boss Toto Wolff even apologised to the Briton for having to drive a bad car.

At NOS Studio Sport Lammers explains that it will take some time before Mercedes can solve its problems. At least until then, Russell has nothing to lose. "Russell is very open-minded at a new team, he has nothing to lose. He is sitting next to a seven-time world champion, what can happen to him? If he's slower than Hamilton, that's normal. He is now driving half a second faster in the race. There is almost half a minute between him and Hamilton."

'Hamilton will become wiser'

The difference between the two Mercedes drivers is striking. Russell has already finished ahead of his teammate three times this season and therefore has 21 points more than Hamilton in the championship. Still, Lammers expects Hamilton to bounce back this season.

"For Lewis, this is just darn hard, he hasn't been used to all this for seven years. This also causes some confusion for him. But without confusion you don't get wiser, so I think at the end of the year we will see a much wiser Hamilton. He will also get back up to speed."