George Russell offers backing to Lewis Hamilton as 7-time champ's struggles continue at Imola GP

Mercedes driver George Russell believes it’s only a matter of time before Lewis Hamilton returns to form, with the seven-time champion continuing to struggle thanks to the performance of his W13.

The British pairing would have naturally been hoping to get themselves at the front of the grid from the off this season as a new dawn broke in F1, but it has been anything but plain sailing for the Mercs instead.

Indeed, Russell and Hamilton have instead had to battle with a car that is clearly unstable more often than not, with Lewis struggling more than his younger team-mate so far.

Certainly, that has naturally sparked interest given how experienced and talented Lewis is, and how new George is to the team, too, but Russell is not thinking too much into it, despite achieving a P4 on Sunday at Imola compared to Lewis’ P13.

When asked by the gathered media at Imola, including Give Me Sport, Russell offered his thoughts on the fortunes of his team-mate compared to himself so far, and backed Lewis to turn it around:

“I think it’s just how things fall out in a race weekend.

“I made a very strong start, I don’t know what happened to him at the start but we are equally struggling.

“When the car isn’t in the right window it doesn’t really feel like a proper racing car to drive.

“We’re struggling with the tyre warm-up, Friday was 13 degrees and it was just a nightmare.

“I expect him to come back strong and the way he is pushing and motivating the team is inspiring and so I’m not getting comfortable in this position as I know what he is capable of.”