George Russell says that he didn’t need a message from Toto Wolff late in the Abu Dhabi GP telling him to “keep it super clean with Lewis” given the level of respect between the two team mates.
Running a different strategy from 10th on the grid in his final race with the team Hamilton was set to catch Russell for fourth place in the closing laps.
Wolff came on the radio and admitted he was “stating the obvious” when urging Russell not to fight Hamilton too hard.
The seven-times World Champion duly fought his past with a bold around the outside move to claim fourth.
Despite ending his season with a humble fifth place Russell was in a positive mood after the race.
“We’ve been off the pace this whole weekend,” he said when asked about the race by AutoRacer.it. “And I felt like it was quite a fitting way to finish with Lewis just one second apart after these three years.
“And to be honest, I’m actually just really happy for him that he had a great final race, because I think he deserved it.
“The team deserved to give him the send-off, and just pleased it’s come to a close now.”
Russell agreed that the Wolff message was unnecessary: “Of course, of course. Toto doesn’t need to say it. He knows Lewis and I have got so much respect for one another. We always race hard but fairly and come down to the wire.
“But ultimately for me, having these three years together, I learned so much from Lewis, as a driver, as a person. And today he deserved to finish ahead of me, because he’s been quicker this whole weekend. And as I said, I’m just sort of proud to have had these years.”
Russell says Hamilton’s approach to being a role model is what had the biggest impact on him.
“To be honest I think just actually seeing first-hand what a role model he is,” he said when asked what he had learned from Hamilton. “I think I sort of recognised from Lewis that we’ve all got this platform, and we have to use it correctly.
“And that’s become even more apparent to me when I got my young niece and nephews watching TikTok and YouTube and Netflix. I spend a bit of time with Toto’s son, and he and his friends see Netflix, and all of this stuff.
“And it’s how you deal with the victories, how you deal with the losses, you inspire the young kids. And I think also this weekend, when I look back to that photo I had of Lewis and I when I was a kid, I looked up to him the same way as all these kids look up to us.
“So I think that’s been probably the biggest life lesson that I’ve learned from him, is that sometimes even if you want to really express something, there’s hundreds of millions of people watching, and the way you do it is super important.”
Regarding Hamilton’s farewell weekend he said: “It’s been great, to be honest. We had a do on Thursday night all together, and looking back through some of his memories.
“And as painful as these three years have been, I think seeing all of these memories as well reminds the team that we can do it. We have the same team as was there during Lewis’s glory years.
“And Lewis even said after the debrief yesterday, everyone had their head in their hands after what happened in qualifying, but he said let’s stand tall, and let’s not forget of all these pole positions and wins that they’ve had together.
“I think it’s been a very nice way to finish this season. It has been a tough three years, and I think this change for everyone is really going to spark a lot of motivation for everyone. And I think sometimes changes is really much needed.”
