Toto Wolff responds to claims Lewis Hamilton is now No 2 at Mercedes behind George Russell

Toto Wolff has denied claims that George Russell is now Mercedes' star driver ahead of Lewis Hamilton following the young Brit's impressive performances for the Silver Arrows. Russell has outperformed Hamilton in four of the five races so far this season ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

Russell, 24, joined Mercedes from Williams in the summer after a series of relatively strong outings for his former side. He has done extremely well since his move, becoming the only driver to finish in the top five in every race of the season.

It is a far cry from last year, with Hamilton coming second overall by the finest of margins and Russell finishing 15th. Yet despite their swap around in fortunes, Wolff refused to admit that Russell was now their No 1 after a number of high-profile figures in F1, including Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve, suggested he was ahead of Hamilton.

"I hardly follow it," Wolff told Sport24 Auto after being asked if he had seen their recent comments. "And if I overhear one or the other comment, I can only smile about it.

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"George is doing a good job, but that's exactly what we expected from him, that's why he's at Mercedes. I don't notice anything about it on the team. These are background noises played through the press. Lewis and George push each other."

The Austrian was then asked how he felt his team's start to the season had gone after some poor performances overall. The Silver Arrows have won the last eight Constructors' Championships, but run a real risk of missing out on this year's title due to their inability to adapt to the new rules and regulations.

And Wolff believes his team's start has