After a very long time, we saw Mercedes struggle for a race-winning pace in 2022. The new aerodynamic regulations left them coping throughout the season and eventually saw them miss out on both championships by a considerable margin. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had very opposite seasons in terms of results, though. While Russell consistently excelled in the first half, Hamilton did in the second. Toto Wolff now feels such phases can be the key to their success in the upcoming season.

Lewis Hamilton, for the first time in his 16-year-long career, went an entire season without a race win. The champion driver struggled for a better part of the season, only recovering in the later stages. He managed 3 P2 finishes in the last 4 fixtures. It was quite the opposite for his teammate, who had a fantastic first half but struggled in the latter half. The only saving grace for Russell was the maiden win in Brazil.

In GP Fans’ end-of-the-year interview, Toto Wolff said, “George is always very self-critical, which is one of the assets that make him a future world champion. He has now been thrown into the Mercedes works team, we keep developing the car, and if you ask me now, the final results look different.”

“Like at the beginning of the year, you could say George was doing very well, and then in the last third of the year, it was Lewis.”

“But in terms of optimum performance, we have the combination of the two best drivers, the strongest line-up. And therefore, we are always going to see those cycles, in my opinion between the two,” he added.

Max Verstappen Goes Off On “Clown Show” Rant After Losing Le Mans Championship

Despite dominating the championship throughout the season, we saw all was not well at Red Bull. The final stages of the Brazilian GP exposed the souring of relations between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Toto Wolff took a veiled dig at rivals with Lewis Hamilton-George Russell example

Sergio Perez has played second fiddle to Max Verstappen whenever the situation has called for it. Despite that, when he needed Max to give up his position at Interlagos to help him finish 2nd in the drivers’ standings, the Dutchman backed out. The radio messages from both drivers showed just how bad things were between them. Toto Wolff, however, insinuated that such a situation wouldn’t arrive at his team because both Lewis and George were “alpha drivers”.

After the conclusion of the race in Sao Paulo, Sky Sports quoted him saying, “They are both alpha drivers and this is good.”

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“We don’t want a puppy [possibly a secondary driver] in the car. We manage that as well as we can.”

Watch This Story: Lewis Hamilton Finds Himself in an Unusual Situation With His Teammate for the First Time Since 2007

Assuming Mercedes manages to deliver a championship-winning car in 2023, do you think Russell and Hamilton will remain respectful of each other?