Lewis Hamilton wants George Russell to take over Mercedes’ F1 ‘guinea pig’ role

Lewis Hamilton says he is hoping George Russell can take on the ‘guinea pig’ role at Mercedes in the second half of the 2022 Formula 1 season, as the team tries to make its way back to the front of the field.

The Silver Arrows have been the fastest team in F1 every year since 2014, but have been off the pace this year and unable to challenge for wins with frontrunners Red Bull and Ferrari.

The Brackley-based squad’s W13 car has been beset by problems with porpoising for the majority of the season, meaning experiments with setups have been necessary at each circuit in the opening nine rounds of the campaign in order to try to improve their challenger’s performance.

Porpoising is the name given to the aerodynamic quirk whereby the new generation of F1 cars bounce up and down violently at high speeds, causing the drivers’ heads to ricochet wildly back and forth as intense loads are sent through their spines.

Mercedes have suffered from the problem more than the other nine teams in F1, and Hamilton has largely undertaken the more experimental setup tests since the start of the campaign, with the team apologising to him after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when an aggressive setup left him with back pain so severe he struggled to exit the car at the end of the race.

Now, after struggling with the setup of his car in free practice ahead of last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix before eventually finishing third, Hamilton is hoping Russell can help lighten the load.

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