Lewis Hamilton extended his contract with Mercedes last summer for one reason: the Briton wants to win his eighth, historic world title. That has to happen with Mercedes, a team that has been no match for Red Bull Racing over the past two seasons. The factory is currently hard at work on a competitive car, which will see its first track action during the winter test in Bahrain. All in the hope that the Germans can break through in '24.

It is no secret that Hamilton is not a big fan of testing. In fact, the Briton finds it so annoying that he has sometimes called in sick in the past to get out of a test, the former Formula 1 world champion confessed during a meeting with Mercedes staff at the Brackley factory.

Hamilton doubted Russell

Missing from this meeting was George Russell and team boss Toto Wolff apologised on behalf of Hamilton's teammate. Russell was, in fact, ill and not fit enough to come to the factory. " I wondered [if he was really sick]," Hamilton told Mercedes in a video showing an account of the meeting with the team's staff.

"In the past I have done that (calling in sick, ed.) to miss test days because generally I just don't like test days. So when I heard yesterday that he was sick, I thought, 'Ah, he's got me here, he's gotten a lot smarter'." But it has to be said: Russell was really sick. During the closing Grand Prix weekend in Abu Dhabi, the Briton was already complaining about his health.