Lewis Hamilton is facing the most demanding and potentially unsettling season when fellow-Briton George Russell is all set to replace Valtteri Bottas as his Mercedes team-mate in 2022. The 36-year-old seven-time champion will have to contend with an even younger racing partner in a “new age” formula following a radical regulations overhaul to create closer racing.

According to various reports, Hamilton had often made it clear his respect for, and trust in Bottas as a teammate. 

Recently, Hamilton admitted that he did not plan to go on “too much longer”. As a ‘millennial’ he knows that Generation Z has arrived.

“I can’t imagine too much longer, but it could change,” AFP reported Hamilton as saying.

Also read: Who is Pierre Gasly?

The AFP report further said that Hamilton admitted of him hating to lose, a trait he may revisit if Russell rises to the challenge as he did as substitute for a Covid-stricken Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix where he would have won.

It is also said that Russell had two days’ notice of his promotion from Williams. He was slightly too big for the cockpit and had to wear small racing boots and struggled with the controls tailored for Hamilton.

But he almost out-qualified Bottas, made a faster start than him and looked set to triumph.

Having pushed for the unthreatening Bottas to stay for a sixth harmonious year, Hamilton admitted at the Dutch Grand Prix that Russell was an ‘incredible talent’.

Also read: ‘Iceman’ Kimi Raikkonen to retire at the end of 2021 Formula 1 season

Russell’s potential was again confirmed after he gained his first podium finish, by virtue of a brilliant qualifying.

With Hamilton seeking to become the first driver to win 100 Grands Prix at Monza this weekend, he is reliant on his experience while Russell, where consistency is paramount, is fired by ambition.

His move follows a youthful trend and his erstwhile junior rivals in Verstappen, at Red Bull, Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, both 23, and Lando Norris, just 21, at McLaren in moving to a major team.