George Russell looks to be a teammate and not a rival to Lewis Hamilton

George Russell has insisted that there is no rivalry with his teammate Lewis Hamilton, as he prepares for his first race as a full-time driver with his new team Mercedes.

The 24-year-old from King’s Lynn said he felt only excitement for the challenge ahead in working with Hamilton whom he looked up to as a “superhero” as a child, when he takes to the track for the Formula One season-opener in Bahrain this weekend.

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Hamilton has multiple championships and is entering his 16th season in F1 and has been world champion seven times, while Russell is very much at the start of his career. He is highly rated and expected to present a genuine challenge to Hamilton but views their relationship as collaborative rather than combative.

“We are at different stages of our careers. Lewis has nothing to prove, he is statistically the greatest driver of all time, I think he wants me to succeed and he truly wants to help me,” he said. “It’s incredibly exciting that I find myself in a win-win scenario. You’re going up against the greatest of all time who has beaten everybody. I can only learn from him.”

With Mercedes on the back foot, their car suffering from the “porpoising” downforce problem on straights causing the car to bounce violently, Russell insisted the pair were committed to working together as they face strong opposition.

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“There is really good respect between Lewis and I,” he said. “We both recognise we need to work together to push forward because our competition isn’t with each other, it is against Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren. If we start battling internally, trying to be secretive about set-ups, it’s