“I think they are what the sport can rely on moving forward so there’ll be things that we learn from one another. I think it’s important that respect is always there and communication will be at the core of that.
“We’ve got an amazing setting at our team in terms of morale, in terms of processes and how the team put their arms around the two drivers. That’s why we have harmony in our team, and I think we’re so much better prepared than we were in previous years.”
While there has been no confirmation of Mercedes’s intentions for next season, indications seem to point to an imminent announcement from the team that Russell will replace Valtteri Bottas at the team next year.
Russell admitted ahead of this weekend that he now knows where he will be racing in 2022 though offered no concrete answers over where exactly he will be.
Bottas said there was no news to share just yet on his future but Hamilton hinted that Russell would be the future of Mercedes in F1 and that their partnership would remain harmonious.
“I honestly think it’d be good. I think George is an incredibly talented driver, clearly. I would say probably the only highlight from last week was his qualifying lap, which was amazing.
“He’s humble. I think he’s got a great approach, and being British I would imagine probably helps in terms of communication.
“Naturally, I have to be super, super supportive the team-mate that I have right now so that’s why I’m always supportive of Valtteri because we have a job to do right now and neither of us can win the team championship alone. We have to do it collectively.”
Hamilton went on to describe Russell as “the future”. “He’s one of the members of the future of the sport so I think he’s already shown incredible driving so far. I’m sure he’s going to continue to grow so where better to do it than in a great team like this?”