Confidence in Russell is high: 'He'll challenge Lewis in my opinion'

Lewis Hamilton may not only get opposition from other teams this season. With George Russell, Mercedes has, since this year, a second driver in the house who can fight for the championship. Emerson Fittipaldi has every confidence in this, as he told Vegas Insider.

In recent years, Mercedes had Valtteri Bottas under contract, but the Finn did not manage to meet the high expectations. He therefore decided to leave for Alfa Romeo in 2022, so Mercedes had to look for a replacement. As a substitute for Hamilton, Russell already showed that he could handle the level and convinced the German racing team with that.

"Amazing," is how Fittipaldi describes Russell's previous performance. "I'm sure he'll be very close to Lewis, with less experience in the team. I would say that you need two or three Grands Prix to adapt yourself to the team. But he'll challenge Lewis in my opinion. He's very talented and an aggressive driver."

Due to the new regulations, it is still difficult to estimate how the teams will fare against each other. There is also a lot of tension at Toto Wolff's disposal. The Mercedes team boss indicated this week that he is curious to see how the Germans will fare on Saturday, when qualifying is just around the corner.