Hamilton as a mentor: 'I want to see Russell succeed'

Lewis Hamilton is still performing at top level, but also the Brin will admit that his time in Formula 1 will end somewhere in the next couple of years. Within Mercedes his successor is already waiting in the form of George Russell. Next season Hamilton and Russell will challenge side by side for the world title.

Lewis Hamilton spoke to various media outlets about Russell. According to Autosport Hamilton indicated that he himself was at a different stage of his career. "I want to see him (Russell) succeed," the reigning champion said.

"There comes a point where I don't continue in this sport. He is my teammate and he will be the next Briton I want to see win a world championship. So I really hope that as we go into battle and I want to win on the track, that I can have a positive influence on how he behaves within the team."

Undoubtedly Russell will do everything in his power to compete with Hamilton next season. Hamilton compared the situation to when he himself debuted alongside Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007. "I think you saw that George is hugely respectful," Hamilton said. "He's a super-talented young man and I think there's a huge amount of respect coming in already. There's just a nice balance at the moment."

Hamilton isn't worried about this youngster. "He will want to be fast. He'll want to win, and all those things you do when you're new somewhere. I remember when I was competing against Alonso, of course I wanted to beat him in the first race. So I appreciate and expect George to have that mentality, otherwise he's not a winner, you know? I expect him to have that mentality."