The ‘remarkable difference’ in Lewis Hamilton and George Russell data at Mercedes after Brazil

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George Russell has overtaken Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Russell finished fourth at a soaked Interlagos, with Hamilton only 10th.

The former Williams driver had also got the better of his teammate in the Sprint, coming home sixth while Hamilton failed to score. It was one of the poorest weekends of the seven-time world champion’s career, and he capitalised.

Hamilton may not be especially concerned about losing out to Russell. Every racing driver hates losing to their teammate, but he’ll feel he has little to prove.

Still, it would be some achievement for the 26-year-old, who would effectively win the overall head-to-head 2-1. He beat Hamilton in 2022, their first year together, before losing out last season.

Russell was 26 points ahead of Hamilton after winning the Austrian Grand Prix in June, but there was a 60-point swing in the next three races. Driver number 44 won at Silverstone, where his teammate retired, and then inherited victory at Spa after Russell’s disqualification for breaching the weight limit.

However, since the summer break, Russell has consistently chipped away at the deficit. Hamilton has only managed to outscore him in Mexico (fourth vs fifth), and has now dropped to seventh, which means he faces his lowest championship finish ever.

George Russell was far more confident on the throttle than Lewis Hamilton

Motorsport.com’s Jonathan Noble has dug into the data behind Russell and Hamilton’s sharply divergent fortunes in Brazil. One driver competed for victory while the other scrapped in the midfield.

Hamilton normally comes alive in the rain, but here the Sao Paulo downpour simply exacerbated his existing balance struggles. Instead, it was Russell who took advantage of the field-levelling conditions.

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The throttle difference from the rescheduled Sunday morning qualifying session points to a ‘remarkable difference’ in their confidence levels. Particularly in the slower corners, Russell could lower his right foot consistently, while Hamilton had to keep backing out because of an unstable rear end.

The 105-time race-winner suffered a third Q1 exit of the season. Russell, on the other hand, qualified on the front row alongside Lando Norris.

Peter Windsor shares how Lewis Hamilton was ‘making things worse’ for Mercedes

Karun Chandhok says Hamilton’s car looked ‘awful’ on the onboard footage. It’s difficult to say to what extent this should excuse his poor performance.

A driver must work with the team on finding a suitable balance and, if necessary, find a way around their car’s problems. Russell has clearly outperformed Hamilton in both of these areas this year.

Indeed, Peter Windsor says Hamilton was ‘making things worse’ in Brazil with a ‘shadow boxing’ driving style. This was the result of a lack of ‘feel’.

In his defence, Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin admits there are ‘fundamental’ weaknesses in the W15. He says it’s particularly difficult to drive in a sequence of slow corners.