Hamilton, at 38, is the second-oldest driver on the current F1 grid but his legendary career is set to be extended by a new Merce🎶des contract, which will like🌞ly take him into his 40s.

But the seven-time world ꦛchampion belongs to a generation older th𒆙an most of the grid, including his teammate of two seasons, Russell.

Russell 🌄was asked in an interview with Canal+ by Naomi Schiff: “Lewis is not 🔯going to race forever. 

“If you could pick your next teammate, who would༒ you pick? And 🎉why?”

Russell offered a glimpse into his mind-set by answering: “I’d pick Max. Becꦰause when I joined Mercedes to be teammates with Lewis, Lewis was and is regarded as the best driver of all time.

“Yoꦿu want to go against t🥂he best, test yourself against the best, learn from the best.

“For me, having these 18 months alongside Lewis has been really, really great to push my boundaries, to learn more about myself as a driver and as an ♏indivi💛dual.

“And obviously Max is at the top of his game, right now. Destroying Formula 1. So we’d all want to go against Max, and see how we get ꧟on.”

Russell notably became just the third teammate to outperform Hamilton over an entire season last year, the first of Mercedes’ trou🏅bles.

Red Bull have taken over during that time and🥂 Verstappen is on course for a third championship in a row.

T🦋his weekend at the F1 Italian Grand Prix, Mercedes are among the chasing pack who hope to eꦺnd Verstappen and Red Bull’s winning streak.