Russell has "the potential" to match Hamilton in F1 - Robson

Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson believes George Russell "has the potential" to match Lewis Hamilton's F1 exploits.

Robson worked with Hamilton during his earlier career at McLaren, overseeing his development before becoming performance engineer for former team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and race engineer for Jenson Button.

Drawing comparisons between drivers at different stages of their careers is never an easy task but Robson believes Russell, who is in his third year with Williams, has what it takes to match Hamilton.

"I think there are definitely some similarities there and they were obvious from the first time I met George," said Robson.

"We ran him in the simulator at Grove and ran him up the airfield in a road car, there was something there. If we took him to Elvington in the F1 car he would have gone up and down all day.

"The talent is there. He is very close to Lewis and has the potential to get there, that is for sure."

From his experiences of working with the two drivers, Robson highlighted a clear difference between seven-time champion Hamilton and Russell. "I took him [Hamilton] testing at Elvington, going up and down the runway, and he was bored stiff after 10 minutes," added Robson.

"Whereas most kids, when you took them to Elvington, they were just chuffed to bits to be in an F1 car, even when they were just going up and down the runway.

"[But] He was different right from the beginning, and he just has that talent and that tremendous attitude, so you have to take your hat off to him."

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