Lewis Hamilton would ‘never’ have allowed what just happened to George Russell at Mercedes

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George Russell has already proven he’s no Lewis Hamilton in his first Formula 1 title fight, Davide Valsecchi says.

Russell dominated the season opener in Australia but has been beaten by teammate Kimi Antonelli at the last three races. A Q3 stoppage hampered him in China, while the timing of a safety car worked against him in Japan.

However, Russell had no excuse when Antonelli convincingly beat him in Miami. He regards it as one of his weakest circuits, but the gap to the Italian was still concerning.

If Kimi Antonelli wins the title, how much would it damage George Russell’s reputation?

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Davide Valsecchi slams George Russell over Kimi Antonelli deficit

Antonelli was over four-tenths faster than Russell in Sprint qualifying and the gap was virtually the same on Saturday as they qualified first and fifth respectively.

The gap between the drivers at the chequered flag on Sunday was a whopping 43 seconds despite an early safety car that bunched up the field. Valsecchi never expected this kind of performance from Russell, who has been waiting several years for a title-contending car.

Speaking to Formula1.it, he said drivers like Hamilton and Max Verstappen would never allow their teammates to beat them so convincingly across a weekend in such circumstances.

• READ MORE: Otmar Szafnauer shares why George Russell will still beat ‘generational’ Kimi Antonelli to the title

He said: “For Russell, who I imagined fighting for the world championship if Mercedes had had a strong car, given that he is more used to it and that over the years he has proven to be among the top five in the world, now I look at the results and say: can you remind me of a driver in recent years who has always been three or four tenths behind his teammate?

“Hamilton, when he won the world championship, never had a weekend in which, in every session, he was this far ahead of his teammate. Verstappen, let’s not even talk about it: it never really happened. If his partner ever beat him, it was by mistake.”

Lewis Hamilton’s record against his teammates in his title-winning seasons

Hamilton comfortably dispatched Heikki Kovalainen at McLaren en route to his first title in 2008, beating him 13-5 in the races and 14-4 in qualifying.

While he tied Nico Rosberg 19-19 on a Saturday across the 2014 and ’15 campaigns, he crucially won the race head-to-head 24-14 in the same period.

Hamilton won four straight championships between 2017 and 2020, the longest run of his career, alongside Valtteri Bottas.

The cumulative head-to-head scores were 52-25 in qualifying and 56-21 in the races, both heavily in Hamilton’s favour.