‘Hamilton won’t want to see Russell in front ever again’

After being beaten comfortably at Imola, Nico Rosberg believes Lewis Hamilton will never want a repeat of that kind of disparity against George Russell.

Russell made the most of the race start on Sunday, managing to move up five places on the first lap and eventually pass Kevin Magnussen to then put himself in the top five, which eventually became a P4 finish after Charles Leclerc’s late spin.

Hamilton struggled meanwhile, finding himself stuck in the midfield in a train of cars and was first behind Lance Stroll, before being jumped past at the pit stops by Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.

The seven-time World Champion could not find a way past the AlphaTauri driver, with the pair in a DRS train for the second half of the race – and Hamilton ended up being lapped by eventual race winner Max Verstappen.

Russell has now opened up a 21-point lead over his illustrious team-mate at this early stage of the season, and Hamilton’s former Mercedes partner knows better than anyone how much he’ll want to get back on terms quickly.

Lewis Hamilton is about to be lapped by Max Verstappen.#ImolaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/TtEv3pmWno

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) April 24, 2022

“That was tough to see Lewis in that state,” Rosberg said on Sky F1 after watching Hamilton’s paddock interview in which he ruled himself out of title contention.

“It’s understandable. It’s a long season but they [Mercedes] are nowhere with that car. They aren’t even going to be able to fight for race wins any time soon so it’s difficult for Lewis to keep his motivation up.

“But I think he will manage because he is a fighter. There is always going to be that thing of wanting to beat your team-mate. That is going to be really, really important to him.

“And with George