Mercedes F1 insider shares behind-the-scenes details on Hamilton and Russell

Matt Whyman, the author of the new behind-the-scenes book at Mercedes, revealed how Lewis Hamilton and George Russell differ in their feedback to the team.

He explained how Russell is “very prescriptive” during debriefs with the team, while seven-time World Champion Hamilton is “much more emotional” in how he describes what he experiences within a car.

Mercedes insider reveals difference in Hamilton, Russell approaches in feedback

Hamilton and Russell will conclude their three-season stint together as team-mates when Hamilton heads to Ferrari next year, with only two points separating them in the Drivers’ standings at this stage of the season.

While both drivers offer feedback in their own way – as every driver will at each team – Whyman explained how it is then the job of the engineers around them to translate their words in such a way that can allow them to help make the car more to their liking, which he described as an “endlessly fascinating” process.

Whyman was allowed behind-the-scenes access at the team for his new book, Inside Mercedes F1: Life in the Fast Lane, and he was able to offer insight into how both drivers operate while debriefing the team.

“Where George is very prescriptive and very lyrical and describes things in a very accurate way, Lewis is much more emotional about his description of what is going on with the car,” Whyman told Mirror Sport.

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“It is how he feels – is he happy with this, is he not happy with this? It is very interesting listening to the difference between them, yet they both provide this raft of information.

“I remember talking to James Allison, the technical director, and he was saying that they have got thousands of sensors on the car and can get all kinds of data that we want, but the one piece of data that they cannot get is, ‘How does it feel as a human being? What is the feeling?’

“All they want from the drivers, they do not want them to say what is wrong, they just want to know how it is feeling and it is their job to translate that feeling into mechanical and aerodynamic speak.

“Over the course of 18 months, that was an absolute privilege to listen to. It was a joy to be there as a non-engineer.

“To hear that, it is like they are speaking two different languages and they have to try to translate it, to the best of their abilities. It is endlessly fascinating, the detail that they go into.”

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