Now though, F1’s newest winner says the two drivers stand on an equal footing.
“I think we have a lot of dialogue between the two of us,” he says. “And when we’re talking about certain issues, we’re almost verifying one another. ‘Are you feeling this as well? Yeah, I’m feeling this.’ And when you’ve got both drivers pushing in the same direction, that really helps the development of the team, of the pace, of the performance.
“And I think that it really helps, that we’ve got a really strong and transparent relationship. And I think it helps that we’re both at different points in our career, and I don’t think there’s any sort of ego there from either side.
“We respect one another,” he emphasizes. “And I think that’s really been a big factor into that development that we’ve had as a team this year.”
Hamilton congratulates F1’s newest winner in Brazil
Mercedes
Throughout the season, the two have been neck and neck on pace most of the time. Though Russell was able to ultimately stretch out a gap of 35 points over Hamilton, the man from King’s Lynn says the intensity of the on-track competition has never resulted in bad blood between the pair.
“Absolutely, we’ve not had any scenarios to have any falling outs, we’ve got that good relationship, we’ve always had respect for one another.