‘Russell has skill to keep Hamilton in shade'

THERE is nothing new in Lewis Hamilton losing in his second grand prix against a team-mate, as he did to George Russell in Saudi Arabia last weekend.

- Matt Majendie

He underwent the same fate alongside Fernando Alonso, Heikki Kovalainen and Jenson Button — his first three team-mates — before bucking the trend against Nico Rosberg and then Valtteri Bottas.

He currently has a pig of a car in Mercedes’ W13, porpoising its way down the straights in the Middle East leg of the season. In Bahrain, he extricated the maximum out of the car to finish in third; in Saudi Arabia, he had to make do with 10th, his third-worst finish in the past 12 years.

There were extenuating circumstances. Had the pit-lane not been shut, he would have been able to come in for fresh tyres while running sixth behind the virtual safety car and enjoyed a higher finish.

But, in truth, it was a weekend to forget and one in which he was outdriven by his new team-mate. Whether it proves a sign of the times and a changing of the guard remains to be seen.

For now, Mercedes have far bigger problems, working round the clock to find out how to make car they believe has so much potential to close the gap on both Ferrari and Red Bull.