Eddie Jordan tells ‘not good enough’ F1 driver teammate is ‘outshining’ 39-y/o

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Eddie Jordan has now warned Lewis Hamilton that George Russell is ‘outshining’ the Mercedes driver who needs a big result ‘really badly’ after a poor start to his season.

Seven-time F1 champion Hamilton has left Jordan feeling very underwhelmed after securing P7 in the Bahrain GP and P9 in the Saudi Arabian GP. He even finished both races behind his Mercedes teammate, Russell, who sealed P5 in Sakhir and P6 in Jeddah to open his season.

Russell also out-qualified Hamilton at the Bahrain GP and again at the Saudi Arabian GP. The 26-year-old sealed P3 and P7 in the respective Q3 sessions, while Hamilton could only claim P9 and P8. Oliver Bearman also almost eliminated Hamilton from Q2 at the Saudi Arabia GP.

George Russell has 18 points to Lewis Hamilton’s eight to start 2024

Just 0.036 seconds divided Bearman on the 18-year-old’s shock Formula 1 debut standing in for Carlos Sainz from 39-year-old Hamilton. The Ferrari Driver Academy talent also ended the Jeddah race in P7 – in front of the soon-to-be Scuderia driver due to Mercedes’ strategy.

Hamilton fell behind Bearman once Mercedes ultimately called the Stevenage-born driver in for his pit stop on Lap 36. The Silver Arrows had to leave the Briton out during the safety car as they could not double-stack their drivers on Lap 7 with Hamilton too close behind Russell.

Eddie Jordan feels Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton needs a ‘big result’

Russell leading Mercedes through qualifying and the race at both of the opening two rounds convinces Jordan that Hamilton needs a ‘big’ result ‘really badly’ ahead of the Australian GP, though. The former F1 team owner believes Russell is ‘outshining’ his departing teammate.

“Lewis, god, he needs a result really badly,” he told the Formula For Success podcast. “The reason why is because George is outshining him just like what happened this time last year.

“Sure, Lewis got himself together halfway through and then went on to have a very strong second half of the season. But the championship is not two halves, it’s continuous races – there’s 24 races. And the race at the weekend was not good enough. He needs a big result.”

Hamilton, who will replace Sainz at Ferrari in 2025, started 2023 with back-to-back P5s over the Bahrain GP and Saudi Arabian GP from P7 on those grids. Yet he then finished second at the Australian GP from P3 on the grid but Mercedes had to retire Russell, who started in P2.

Russell briefly led in Melbourne last year but he dropped to seventh place after pitting. The Briton’s power unit then caught fire on Lap 17 to end his Australian GP. Russell had started his 2023 campaign with P7 from P6 on the Bahrain GP grid plus P4 from P3 in Saudi Arabia.