Nico Rosberg has claimed that Lewis Hamilton makes use of his Mercedes team-mate George Russell as motivation as he bids to assert his first win of the season on the French Grand Prix. The 37-year-old sits 19 factors behind his fellow Brit within the Drivers’ Championship, and the 2016 world champion believes that Hamilton will not having fun with being crushed by a team-mate.
“I believe he does [use Russell as motivation],” Rosberg instructed Sky Sports activities F1. “Particularly as a result of he has a younger super-fast team-mate beside him. And Lewis by no means needs to come back second to a team-mate. That’s only a large motivation for him, and he confirmed that yesterday, as a result of his tempo was completely superior. It was Lewis at his finest, being 4 tenths quicker than George. He is likely one of the better of the subsequent technology, perhaps the very best.”
“From every little thing we’ve seen this yr, George can also be undoubtedly a future world champion. What he has extracted from that Mercedes by way of consistency has been unimaginable. And in addition the best way he has gone up in opposition to Lewis, even in qualifying battles keep in mind it’s 6-6, so they’re even by way of qualifying up to now.
“That’s actually, actually spectacular. I believe George does have the potential to be the subsequent primary driver at Mercedes as soon as Lewis determined to hold up his helmet. So I believe for Nice Britain there’s such an superior future forward with Lando Norris and George.”
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Hamilton and Russell are set to see modifications to their automobile in 2023, after a number of complaints made by the 2 all through the season. Mercedes head of trackside operations Andrew Shovlin admitted that the automobile will look totally different to the present design.
“We don’t suppose that simply altering our sidepod will change our competitiveness,” Shovlin stated. “We’re definitely not of that thoughts. Nor are we wedded to saying that is how the Mercedes automobile should look. From the very early a part of the yr we’re taking a look at different groups’ bodywork and definitely with a view to subsequent yr, trying up and down the grid to see concepts.
“And it could be that we don’t simply take one other group’s thought, we’re taking a look at combos of various ideas. Nevertheless it’s a gradual course of. I believe essentially our automobile isn’t going to alter look massively this season however I’d be shocked if subsequent yr’s automobile appears to be like the identical.”
