'Definitely will energise the whole team' - Lewis Hamilton relishing George Russell arrival at Mercedes

ByTNT Sports

Published 10/09/2021 at 13:34 GMT+1

"The young talent coming through is so great for the sport and is the future of the sport," Lewis Hamilton said. "New fresh blood in our team is going to be great because obviously I'm the oldie there. That definitely will energise the whole team knowing that they have a new youngster coming through."

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton

Image credit: Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton feels the signing of George Russell will energise the Mercedes team as he expects the youngster to turn up the heat in the garage.

Russell had been strongly tipped to make the move to Mercedes after he impressed when deputising for Hamilton at the Sakhir Grand Prix after the world champion tested positive for coronavirus.

His move to partner Hamilton for the 2022 season was confirmed earlier this week, and it is a decision backed by the 36-year-old.

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"The young talent coming through is so great for the sport and is the future of the sport," Hamilton said. "New fresh blood in our team is going to be great because obviously I'm the oldie there.

"That definitely will energise the whole team knowing that they have a new youngster coming through who is super hungry, driven and pushing the team forwards.

"I just know he's going to continue to get stronger, even in these next nine races [of 2021], and next year he'll be bringing the heat for sure."

Russell will replace Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes car. He will have designs on challenging for the drivers’ title, but Hamilton does feel it will see a switch from the harmonious relationship he enjoys with his current team-mate to what was experienced with Nico Rosberg.

"It's quite a strange sport where it's a team sport and it's also an individual sport," Hamilton said.

"You've got those two championships and individually you want to finish ahead but at the same time, you've got to do the job to get the team ahead.

"It's a difficult one to navigate through but I like to think we've experienced it and learned from it and therefore should be pretty well set moving forwards."

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