Johnny Herbert: Lewis Hamilton is the leader at Mercedes as they look to improve their 2022 season
"You can never rule out Lewis": Sky Sports' Johnny Herbert believes that Lewis Hamilton is the motivational force behind Mercedes as they look to improve upon their recent form; Herbert described his partnership with George Russell as "powerful"; F1 2022 continues with Miami GP on May 6-8
Thursday 28 April 2022 08:23, UK
Johnny Herbert has praised Lewis Hamilton's leadership within Mercedes as the seven-time World Champion looks to inspire his team after a difficult start to the 2022 Formula One season.
Despite the issues that the Silver Arrows have been facing on the track, what has been maintained within Mercedes is that Hamilton continues to 'inspire' his team as they work towards improvements on their W13 car, his team-mate George Russell describing him as the 'captain'.
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While the Mercedes man believes himself to be out of the world championship, his passion to get the best results for those working around him continues to be his main motivation in 2022.
For Herbert, such leadership abilities have been Hamilton's most consistent feature as a driver, dating back to him joining McLaren in 2007.
"I think what Lewis has always been really good at doing is being a leader," said Herbert.
"I think that first kicked off when he joined McLaren with Fernando Alonso and how he was able to develop himself and mould himself within the team and that is exactly what he has been able to do at Mercedes.
"Motivation within the team, it is a massive and important thing for the driver to get the most out of the personnel, especially in the situation they find themselves in at the moment.
"So he will be working very, very hard with his engineers, with the designers, to try and work out exactly what is going wrong because I think they know they have fundamentally got a good car but until they can get the right set-up for the car, it is going to be a lot of hard work.
"But that is where he is going to be really inspiring within the team because that is something that he is still very, very driven to do - to get the best out of himself but out of the team at the same time."
"Even when you are winning you still have to keep that motivation going and the proof in the pudding was last year.
"It looked like it was going to be a runaway victory for Red Bull in the early and middle part of the season and it turned around and that just shows you how driven and how important he is for the team.
"You can never rule out Lewis, you can never rule out Mercedes."
Hamilton and Russell a 'powerful' pairing
Since coming into the Mercedes team for the 2022 season and replacing Hamilton's long time team-mate Valtteri Bottas, Russell has provided a consistent run of points, putting himself fourth in the championship after four races and providing an inter-team battle that, Herbert believes, will provide an environment in which Hamilton will continue to prosper.
"I think it is always something that he thrives upon, all that pressure that is there," added Herbert.
"George [Russell] has come in with a brilliant reputation but into a big team where the expectations are very, very high and they expect the driver to do the job every time he gets into the car.
"That is something Lewis did from his first race in Australia for McLaren and he has kept that momentum going the whole way through.
"George has done a brilliant job, he has been a bit lucky sometimes, like Saudi Arabia, but that is how the cookie crumbles.
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"I think it is fundamentally a good pairing and a very, very powerful pairing."
