Russell pipped Hamilton over three seasons

Lewis Hamilton’s last-lap pass on George Russell in their final race together at Mercedes did not prevent the seven-times world champion being out-scored by his team mate over the course of 2024.

But it did put Hamilton narrowly ahead in the points battle between their pair over their three years as team mates. Hamilton scored 697 points to Russell’s 695: as near as makes no difference.

Russell, however, ended their three years together ahead on every other metric. That will boost his confidence that he can assert himself as team leader alongside newcomer Andrea Kimi Antonelli next year.

After Hamilton’s off-season revelation that he would head to Ferrari for 2025, Russell held the upper hand at Mercedes from the start. By Monaco, Hamilton had suffered his seventh qualifying defeat in eight races, and said he didn’t expect to line up ahead of his team mate on the grid for the rest of the year.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Monaco, 2024 — Monaco qualifying performance dismayed Hamilton

It didn’t turn out quite as bad as that, but Hamilton nonetheless went down 19-5. Russell therefore became the first driver to out-qualify Hamilton over a season since Nico Rosberg a decade earlier. It tipped what had previously been a nip-and-tuck contest between the pair (they tied in qualifying last season).

Hamilton struggled more noticeably than Russell with the W15’s perplexing behaviour. Over a race stint he could usually make it comply, but by then he was usually playing catch-up after another Saturday disappointment. Time and again Hamilton declared himself happy with the car’s balance at the beginning of the weekend, only to turn sullen after another sub-par qualifying performance condemned him to a difficult grand prix.

Although victory somewhat fell into Russell’s hands in Austria, he could point to other occasions when he left a weekend feeling short-changed: Technical trouble struck with awful timing at Silverstone, the red flag likely cost him a win at Interlagos, and of course there was his post-win disqualification at Spa.

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When Russell arrived at Mercedes two years ago, few expected the eight-times champions were about to suffer not just one poor season, but the first of three. As a result, both drivers had to accept the pursuit of ultimate performance sometimes needed to take a back seat while they puzzled over the intricacies of another disappointing chassis.

But with Hamilton nearing 40, his often unconvincing final season at Mercedes will provoke inevitable questions about whether he’s past his best, or just wasn’t always able to deliver it in a car he plainly never clicked with. That’s a question which won’t be answered until we see him alongside Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.

Of course Hamilton’s next team principal, Frederic Vasseur, gave short shrift to the idea that the driver he just signed is losing his touch. He’ll be hoping he’s right, but Russell’s improving qualifying performance compared to Hamilton looks more like a trend than a one-off.