George Russell believes that there will be more “magic” to come from former team mate Lewis Hamilton – like that seen during his Sprint victory in China – as the seven-time World Champion continues to get to grips with his new car at Ferrari.
After deciding to bring his 12-year partnership with Mercedes to an end, Hamilton has started a fresh chapter with the Scuderia this season but is still in the process of adapting to the SF-25, with his best race result so far being a P5 last time out in Bahrain.
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There was, however, a high point when the Briton triumphed in the first Sprint of the campaign in Shanghai, something that Russell feels was a demonstration of what Hamilton is capable of.
When asked during media day ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix about how he views Hamilton’s time at Ferrari so far, Russell responded: “I don’t really know, to be honest. After Fernando [Alonso] he’s the most experienced driver on the grid, a seven-time World Champion and he’s an incredible person and racing driver.
Hamilton enjoyed his first triumph as a Ferrari driver by winning the Sprint in China
“We saw it in China, second race of the season, on pole in the Sprint, wins the race comfortably. I know what he’s capable of, and it’s not easy going into a new team and the competition is tough, but he’s an amazing driver and I’m sure, when things start to click, as they did in China, we’ll see more of that magic.”
In terms of his own season so far, Russell is pleased with his current level of performance, having stood on the podium at three out of the opening four races while Mercedes are second in the Teams’ Championship to McLaren, albeit with a deficit of 58 points.
However, the Briton believes that some of those opportunities may have come from McLaren making occasional errors, with the papaya squad still being seen as the team to beat.
“My aspirations are to fight for the World Championship and, being realistic, we don’t have a car to fight McLaren,” Russell explained. “They could probably have finished first and second in every race this year, but they’ve given the rest of us a few opportunities.
“Myself and Max [Verstappen] have jumped on the podium probably one too many times because of a few little errors and we’ll take it, but I don’t imagine those errors continuing for 24 races.”
Russell has stood on the podium three times so far in 2025
Looking back on his drive to P2 last time out in Bahrain, Russell suggested that he expects a tougher fight from the Silver Arrows’ competitors during the weekend ahead in Jeddah.
“It was a great race, great weekend [in Bahrain],” the 27-year-old said. “It was sort of the validation we needed from the car going to a totally different track.
“A lot of tyre overheating versus the easy degradation of Suzuka and China to see have we built a more rounded car and we clearly have. But I expect this weekend, still the competition to be tough.
“Red Bull had an off weekend – I expect them to be fast here, similar to Suzuka because there are some similarities with the high speed, smooth tarmac. But then again, we’ve got the softest compound of tyres which is also good, it’s what we’ve been chasing for a little while so [I’m] really happy to see Pirelli bringing that forward.”
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