Hamilton hails 'amazing grafter' Russell as Mercedes relationship blooms

Lewis Hamilton has praised George Russell for his remarkable work ethic since the duo became F1 team-mates at Mercedes.

Russell is Hamilton's third partner at Mercedes since the latter's arrival in 2013, with the younger Briton following in the footsteps of Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas.

After serving a three-year apprenticeship with Williams, Russell has already forged a strong alliance with Hamilton as they work with the team to get on top of the car's pace and aerodynamic issues following the introduction of the new regulations.

Seven-time F1 champion Hamilton has so far been impressed by what he has seen from Russell who clinched his first podium with Mercedes on Sunday in Australia with a third-place finish behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Asked for his thoughts on Russell's performances so far, Hamilton replied: "It's incredible. He's done an amazing job, he did an amazing job [in Australia], had great pace.

"He's been so solid over these first three races. He's working, really grafting away, he's doing an amazing job."

Hamilton praise for Mercedes' "overnight" shift

Hamilton had to settle for fourth behind Russell at Melbourne's Albert Park as he was again hampered by a safety car, as was the case in Saudi Arabia a fortnight earlier.

It means Hamilton is fifth in the drivers' standings, nine points behind second-placed Russell and 43 adrift of early pacesetter Leclerc.

At least the improved results for Mercedes following a difficult start due to the form of the W13 have given Hamilton cause for optimism moving forward.

"It was an amazing result for us as a team, honestly, such a positive," added the 37-year-old. "We were 1.2 seconds off on Friday and it wasn't looking spectacular at that point.

"We did see some great work overnight to qualify on the third row, and a great start, up in third.

"It felt amazing to be fighting for a podium at that moment but obviously we couldn't hold the pace of the Red Bulls.

"But whilst we haven't necessarily improved the car over these three races, I think we've extracted the most we could points-wise.

"From my side, I feel I let the team down in the last race [Saudi Arabia]. I didn't get the points but to come away with this result is great."

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