Russell expecting Hamilton to come back ‘so strong’

George Russell has backed his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to come back “so strong” after the seven-time former World Champion endured a weekend to forget at Imola.

Hamilton’s 2022 misfortunes continued at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix when he crossed the line P13 – only the second time since 2013 the Briton has finished outside of the points.

After the race, Toto Wolff went on the team radio to apologise to Hamilton and described the car as “undriveable”, but the former World Champion’s race was in stark contrast to his team-mate George Russell.

The Mercedes rookie started excellently to jump five places in the first lap before eventually securing fourth place – the third time this season he has finished ahead of Hamilton.

Despite this start, Russell is not getting ahead of himself and predicted Hamilton will bounce back sooner rather than later.

“I think it’s just how things fall sometimes on a race weekend,” he said, as reported by Autosport.

“I made a very strong start. I don’t know what happened with him (Hamilton) at the start, but we are equally struggling and when the car is so far out of bed and it’s not in the right window, it doesn’t really feel like a proper racing car to drive.

“And especially we are struggling with the tyre warm-up. Friday was 13 degrees and it was just a nightmare to drive.

“I expect him to come back so strong, and the way he’s pushing and motivating the team is inspiring.

“I’m not getting comfortable with this position because I know what he’s capable of.”

One possible explanation as to why Russell has so far fared better than Hamilton would have been the recent history of the two drivers entering into the season.

Hamilton had just missed out on a record-breaking eighth world title