Having come out second-best to Hamilton at the season-opener in Bahrain, Russell bounced back to hold the upper hand at Mercedes at the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. 

• Hamilton claims Red Bull is 'fastest car I've ever seen' 

The younger Briton held the edge all week♐end in Jeddah - barring final practice - and finished four places and 0.366s ahead in qualifying, before com💎ing out on top of a mid-race battle to beat Hamilton to P4 in Sunday’s race. 

Hamilton was unable to pass Russell des💧pite being on faster medium tyres after a Safety Car restart and ended up dropping more than five seconds behind his teammate by the chequered flag. 

Following his qualifying struggles, Hamilton admitted he 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:“doesn’t feel connected” with this year’s Mercedes, while he suggested his deficit in the race was the result of a “50-50” set-up choice that went against him. 

Russell unexpectedly outperformed Hamilton in his maiden season at Mercedes last year and now sits just two points behind in the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:championship standings. 

Can Russell beat Hamilton again? 

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Nico Rosberg, the only other teammate to have beaten Hamilton over the course of a season since ꦫ2011, believeᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚs Russell is “the ultimate test” for the seven-time world champion. 

“That was a ‘I got beaten by my tꦑea🅘mmate’ face,” Rosberg said of Hamilton after Sunday’s race. 

“George is the 🍌ultimate test, he is a future world champion. It is a difficult one for Lewis, to stay in 🍎front.

“We saw it last year, the awesome season that George did. George is continuing that form once again so it’s a big challen﷽ge.

“Let’s not forget Lewis is the best of all time. If there’s anyone who can beat George, it will be Lewis.”&🃏nbsp;

Rosberg, who pipped Hamilton to the 2016 world title, added: “A little weakness that🧜 Lewis has, is that sometimes he will mentally go in🎃to this ‘down’. He will lose the flow. 

“But he comes back with a bang every ti🌱me. So George, don’t get too confident!”

1996 world champion and fellow Sky Sports pundit 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Damon Hill has tipped Hami🐷lton to✅ be “formidable again” once Mercedes fix their flawed W14 car. 

♍"This is what Lewis does,” Hill noted. “He gets down but he fights back. That’s what I see in him. 

“You can never count him ou♊t. He will go away and rebuild himself. As he gets the car that he wants, he will be formidable again."

Will tensions rise at Mercedes? 

Hamilton and Russell enjoyed a harmonious relationship throughout 2022 as Mercedes were forced to shift their foc🥃us from winning races and championships onto a recovery effort in what turned out to be a miserable campaign with their troubled W13. 

Russell beat Hamilton to Mercedes’ sole pole position and victory last year as Hamilton was subjected to his worst ever pꦜosition in the drivers’ standings after finishing sixth, 35 points adrift of Russell. 

Both drivers downplayed the importance of the gap and Russell even told ltxcn.top he had 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:no fear about their ไrelationship breaking down as Mercedes’ competitiveness improves. 

But will things changeꦯ if Russell regularly outperforms Hamilton? 

Beating Hamilton for the second successive year would go some way in helping Russell stamp his mark🥃 at Mercedes and potentially establish himse♈lf as the team’s leader. 

As much as he may deny it publicly, Hamilton - the most decorated F1 driver of all time - will be bothered about finishing be𝓡hind his teammate. After all, as far as racing motifs go, ‘beat your teammate’ is right up there. 

Have early glimpses of an intra-team war - similar to that of Hamilton v Rosberg or Hamilton v Alonso - already been 🌳witnessed? 

Russell seemed reluctant to move aside for Hamilton when his teammate i🐓nitiall✃y had more pace on medium tyres. 

When a radio message from Russell to his engineer was broadcast on the world feed, it led to speculation he’d rejected a team order. But there was no such instruction from Mercedes, and Russell later clarified the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:“confusion”. 

Nevertheless, he put down a marker by taking matters into his own hands and immediately pulling clear of Hamilton in a manner his predecessor 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Valtteri Bottas could only dream of.

Clearly frustrated by his defeat, Hamilton ♛appeared to have a little dig at Russell afte📖r the race as he lamented his set-up direction. 

"🎀We work on that,” he said. “There was like a 50-50 choice. I chose one way and he chose a🉐nother.

"More often than not, the way he went is the wrong one. But it just happened to work. So ⛄I could only match his pace than be quicker this weekend. But I'll work hard to make sure we are in a better place next time.”

Even if Mercedes are out of title and race-winning contention this year, it will be fasci🃏nating to see how the Hamilton-Russell dynamic evolves.