George Russell made a “little investment” in not getting his elbows out against Lewis Hamilton in his Abu Dhabi Mercedes swansong.

That is the claim made by former Red Bull driver Mark Webber, after it was put to him that Russell had let Hamilton through late in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to secure P4 as his final Mercedes result.

George Russell’s leaving ‘present’ to Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton suffered a difficult, emotionally challenging run to the end of his Mercedes career as he prepares to join Ferrari next season, though he was able to end that record-breaking career chapter on a high in Abu Dhabi, racing from P16 on the grid to P4 at the chequered flag.

That ascent included a late overtake on Mercedes team-mate Russell, Hamilton pulling off the last-lap pass around the outside of Turn 9 to secure that P4 finish.

However, Channel 4 F1 presenter Steve Jones had his doubts about how strongly Russell wanted to keep that position against Hamilton, asking nine-time F1 race winner Webber whether Russell let Hamilton through?

“Might have,” Webber replied, to which Jones added: “It looked a bit like that. I’m not saying Hamilton didn’t legitimately catch him, but, since he was there, it felt a bit like George went, ‘Oh, go on’.

After Webber described that moment as “a little present at the end” from Russell to his departing Mercedes team-mate Hamilton, Jones came back with: “Doesn’t sound like a grand prix driver.”

Webber would move to defend Russell though, talking up the huge favour which he has received by having Hamilton – F1’s most successful driver with 105 victories and seven world titles among his accolades – as his team-mate for three seasons.

Mercedes Junior Team graduate Russell stepped up to a race seat with the Silver Arrows in 2022, replacing Valtteri Bottas after starting his F1 journey with a three-season stint at Williams.

“Well, given what Lewis has done in that team, indirectly given George a turbo charge,” said Webber, “in terms of he’s got that wealth of foundation of knowledge now for the rest of his career.

“To start your career opposite him… That’s a little investment.”

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Hamilton’s former Mercedes team-mate – 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg – reflected on the race as an “amazing end” to Hamilton’s Mercedes career, the Brit having driven a “brilliant race”, though he also believes that Russell – who started from P6 – was running with a less favourable W15 set-up.

“It must be said though, also in the wording in the radio comms, that I believe that they were experimenting with two different set-ups,” Rosberg added on the Sky F1 podcast. “And I think George, it turns out was not on the good set-up for the weekend. So there was that.

“Fair play to George, he really underplayed it, and never really made a big thing out of it, which was the way he had to do it because it was all about Lewis on the weekend. But I do think that it’s fair to mention that.

“Nevertheless, Lewis did a brilliant job and again showed his great, great qualities.”

Hamilton will find Charles Leclerc on the other side of the Ferrari garage upon his F1 2025 move, Leclerc, like Russell, also a graduate of his team’s academy.

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