George Russell admitted to a “surreal” feeling having partnered Lewis Hamilton for three years at Mercedes, as he now moves to Ferrari.

Russell joined Mercedes as a junior driver before working his way up the ranks, signing for the team to partner Hamilton in 2022, with fellow Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli chosen as Russell’s new team-mate for the 2025 season.

George Russell remembers ‘surreal’ feeling of being team-mate to Lewis Hamilton

While Hamilton’s move to the Scuderia has been known about for the past 11 months, New Year’s Day marks his first official day as a Ferrari driver, with his contract at Mercedes having expired.

Russell admitted to his first motorsport hero having been his older brother Benjy, himself a karting champion whom the Mercedes driver has dubbed in the past as being the “faster Russell”, but opened up about the feeling of partnering the seven-time World Champion for the Silver Arrows.

He recalled his first race with the team – and it was a particularly important one, as Nico Rosberg beat Hamilton to the World Championship in Abu Dhabi in tense circumstances in 2016, with Rosberg subsequently retiring from Formula 1 after his victory.

Having matched up well against Hamilton, however, he is taking confidence from this period of his career.

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“I definitely looked up to him and admired him,” Russell told The Times.

“My hero, honestly, was my brother [Benjy].

“He’s ten years older than me, and he’s who I looked up to when I was go-karting, because that was maybe more relatable for me. He was winning races in go-karts, and he was winning British championships, World Championships, and that’s what I wanted to do, because I could visually see him doing that.

“But without doubt, I’ll always remember my first F1 race for Mercedes in Abu Dhabi 2016, the Nico and Lewis race, and just being in the same room as him in the debrief, listening to it all unfold.

“I was starstruck being there in that moment. So for sure it is surreal that we’ve now been team-mates for three years, and that I know within myself that I can perform at a minimum of his level.”

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