Hamilton hunger for success stuns Russell

Mercedes driver George Russell has revealed how Lewis Hamilton "always amazes" him with his drive for further success.

Russell will partner seven-time champion Hamilton for the first time this season having made the step up from the back of the grid, being rewarded for prompting the beginning of a revival at Williams with the team scoring last term for the first time in two years.

The Briton is well rehearsed in working with the Silver Arrows having been a part of the Mercedes junior programme, gaining insight into the working habits of the team and of Hamilton whilst shadowing during his F3 and F2 campaigns.

Referring to his personal relationship with Hamilton, Russell explained: "My working relationship with Lewis over the past three years hasn't been as close as it probably was four or five years ago when I was a junior driver.

"Seeing him work week in week out, it always amazes me how somebody so talented and successful as Lewis continues to strive for more and that is incredibly inspiring and motivational for me as a young driver to try and reach the height Lewis has achieved.

"What an opportunity for me to be his team-mate, to learn from him and see how he goes about his business.

"I think we have a really good relationship between the two of us and we can really work well together to push the team forward."

Hamilton and Russell share similar style

Cohesion between team-mates will be key for teams as F1 enters a new era this season.

Development of the new cars is expected to rapidly evolve throughout the season, meaning both drivers and the engineering team need to be on the same page in order to update the car in a way that suits the whole team.

Asked whether he shared the same driving style to Hamilton and whether this would help the team push forward, Russell replied: "I think we're pretty similar. Time will tell.

"It is a question, when asked, what is my driving style, I answer truly when I say I don't really know.

"I want to be adaptable to the situation. I wouldn't say I'm especially smooth, I wouldn't say I'm very aggressive either.

"From what I've seen, I do think we have a similar way of driving where we always try to find the limit of the tyre, but not often trying to go over the limit. We're pretty smooth in our general approach.

"I think we'll be in a very similar boat and I have no doubts we'll be working well together."

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