Russell opens up on ‘psychologist’ help to prepare for Lewis Hamilton Mercedes challenge

George Russell recalled a pivotal conversation he had with his psychologist after getting the call to race for Mercedes.

Knowing that would mean partnering seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, Russell did not know if self-belief was going to be enough against “the GOAT”. But, Russell’s psychologist passed on important advice regarding focusing on himself.

George Russell details mental preparation for Lewis Hamilton challenge

Mercedes opted for change following the 2021 campaign, letting Valtteri Bottas go after five seasons with the team – all featuring a Constructors’ title win – with Russell signed in his place.

That saw the Mercedes academy graduate step up from Williams, where he had raced for three seasons, into the Mercedes line-up as Hamilton’s new team-mate.

Hamilton had just narrowly missed out on a record eighth World title, Max Verstappen taking the 2021 crown. Russell believed in his own ability to deliver at Mercedes, but that could not stop an inner-voice nagging about whether he really had a chance up against Hamilton, the most successful F1 driver of all-time.

That is where Russell’s psychologist came in to ready him for the task.

“It was a huge day,” Russell said of being confirmed as a Mercedes driver, as he spoke on the Untapped podcast, “because it felt like, this climbing the ladder, this didn’t feel like one step up. It felt like I took three steps in one go.

“And over those coming months before I started the season with Mercedes, I was thinking like, I believe in myself, I believe I can beat anybody, but the truth is, you don’t know until you go up against the best ever.

“And I’m stepping into his team, where he’s been for 10 years. Everything’s built around him. I’m coming in, I feel fast, I feel young, I feel healthy. I’m ready to take the fight, but you just don’t know.

“So I was thinking about how I’m going to deal with this psychologically, until sort of one day, I had a really good conversation with my psychologist about it, like, how I should deal with the pressure of being his team-mate, and concluded that when I walk into the garage, I’m jumping into my race car, I’m putting my helmet on, I’m putting my visor down.

“It should not matter if my team-mate on the garage next door is a seven time World Champion, or if he’s a rookie, or if there’s nobody there, because I’m in control of my own destiny, and that’s the approach that I had. It’s like, this is on me to perform.

“And finally, taking acceptance that if I were to finish ahead of Lewis in a season… I think my stats against previous team-mates were I finished ahead of them like 95 per cent of the time. I concluded, well, if I beat Lewis in a season, that’s going to be an amazing achievement, but I’m not going to beat him 95 per cent of the time, so if I beat him 55 per cent of the time over a year, that’s amazing, but you’ve got to accept 45 per cent of the time you’re going to be behind him.

“And that’s totally understandable, because you cannot go up against the GOAT [greatest of all time] and expect to wipe the floor with him.

“So that was probably the biggest psychology shift I had, accepting that my goal is to beat him over a season, but there will be times that I will be behind.”

Latest F1 2025 head-to-head standings from PlanetF1.com

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Russell succeeded in the task, outscoring Hamilton in both the 2022 and 2024 championships.

However, Russell arrived at the start of F1’s ground effect era, which marked the end of Mercedes’ time as title contenders.

Asked if his comments meant that, in his mind, it was a battle with Hamilton over the World Championship in his first Mercedes season, Russell added: “I think so.

“Because it was, for me, I had to prove to Mercedes, but not just Mercedes, but the 2000 people working for the team, that I can hold my own and show what I’m capable of.

“Of course, I thought in my head, if I finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton, I would be a World Champion. Because any team-mate who beat him in the years gone by, they were a World Champion.

“So, of course the goal was to beat Lewis, but it wasn’t that that was my sole goal. Like, of course, my goal was to be World Champion. But the two in my head at the time were intertwined.”

Russell has since gone on to win four grands prix for Mercedes. He inherited the team’s lead driver role for F1 2025 after Hamilton departed for Ferrari.

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