Russell sits fourth in the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:F1 standings, two places above Hamilton, heading into the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:F1 Mexico City Grand Prix and it has led to critics questioning the seven-time world🐼 champion’s performance.

But he has explained the toll of early-season experimentation on a W13 car blighted by 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:porpoising issues.

"George is doing a great job," Hamilton 🎃told . "I don't have any problems with it. There's no issues in the background with🌞 us.

"George, I would say, and hi♛s team, they don't experiment the same, obviously. But that's because I've been here for a long time, so I'm w𝓀illing to take these risks.

"George, it's his first year with the tea꧋m so he's come in and he's just doing 💫his job to the best of his ability.

“Very little movement of set-up. I'm doing all the leg-work, back and forth here and there, different wings, all these different things. And I like that anyw🌄ay.

"If we come into next year and we have a car that we ಞare much happier with, then we can be more focused on not ha🎶ving to go crazy with set-ups. Then we can have a better battle.

"If he finishes ahead at the end of the season, I don't really feel anything about it. We're not🅘 in the championship. We are fourth and sixth. Now, if it was first and second, it's different."

Hamilton has been forced to watch 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen rack up back-to-back championships, this season’s during the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:F1 cost cap row.

But he has vowed that Merc♌edes will return to the title picture ꦡin 2023.

"[The W13 car is] like creeping up behind a horse,” he exﷺplained.

"You're trying to get as close as p♓ossible. What's the breaking point before it kicks you in the face? And you know it'sꦦ going to hurt when it hits your face.

"That's one of the best ways I can say what it's like when you're trying to lean on the car and it's snappi🌠ng and unrecoverable. And this car, it💃's random."

Hamilton explained the behind-the-scenes conversations 🔯at Mercedes: "We sat in February and w⛎e were all upbeat. They were all telling us we were going to have massive quick car.

"And I'm sure everyone who was working on it was so hyped with all the hard work they put in throughဣ the winter - it's suc🍬h a gruelling time for everyone in the team; that's when they really crunch and out in the crazy hours.

"To then find out the 🌺damn thing doesn't work, and we've got bouncing [porpoising], that was hard for everybody. Everyone was really struggling, I think.

"And we all went through our own process of how to deal witജh it. But I think surprisingly it's been a really powerful transformational time for 𝓀us all. We've got stronger and tighter as a team.

"I had a feeling when I first drove thღe car. But you can never say never.♔ Maybe we would have fixed it by the first race. Who knows?

"I'd never had bouncing like that. I🙈 didn't expect the guys to take as long. They didn෴'t expect it to take as long as it's taken them to understand what's causing the bouncing. They've had to create new tools, all these things we didn't have before.

"💟You just just hold on to hope. And then the next upgrade comes and it doesn't work, and tꦍhe next one comes and doesn't work.

"Imagine ꦜpeople that are building those things and they are seeing performance in the wind tunnel bu🐻t they are not seeing it on the track. You just keep getting knocked back down.

"But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and we're stil🤡l standing tall. It's not going to be easy t🉐o change the car into a leading car for next year but I think we have a much better understanding of why the car is the way it is.

"Literally, I have tried everything. I've tried every setting you can possibly do. That's what I was doing at the♛ beginning of the year.

"The whole idea of performing at your𒊎 best and getting the best result each week✤end, of course that would be nice, but I was really about problem solving: 'I will sacrifice this session or all the sessions to be able to find more data and information for you.' So that when we go back to the factory they've got a better understanding of what's going on.' But it ultimately hindered some of the weekends.

"I have the big, deep conversations with people I've been with for 10 years. So, me and♔ [Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes' engineering director] can have arguments, constructive arguments.”

• Hamilton♏ on the ghoꩵsts of Abu Dhabi: “A wrong decision from somebody…”