Pit Lane Data

Lewis Hamilton vs George Russell

Head-to-head driver comparison across the Pit Lane Data dataset, 2023-2026.

Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton
George Russell George Russell
MetricHamiltonRussell
Races 87 87
Wins 3 7
Podiums 17 23
Points 842 977
Best finish P1 P1
Retirements 6 9

Hamilton vs Russell: the verdict

Hamilton and Russell both started 87 Grands Prix across 2023-2026. They were team-mates at Mercedes in 2023-2024. In the 72 races where both were classified, Russell leads the race head-to-head 43–29. Hamilton finished ahead more often in 2023 (12–5); Russell finished ahead more often in 2024 (13–7), 2025 (16–5) and 2026 so far (9–5).

In qualifying, Russell leads the head-to-head 61–26. Comparing lap times from the furthest session both reached, the median gap was 0.044s to Russell in 2023, 0.190s to Russell in 2024, 0.256s to Russell in 2025 and 0.122s to Russell in 2026 so far. Russell kept the edge, and the margin grew from 0.044s in 2023 to 0.122s in 2026. Hamilton took 1 pole in this period to Russell's 10.

Hamilton scored 842 championship points to Russell's 977 over these seasons, with 3 wins to 7 and 17 podiums to 23. Hamilton retired from 6 Grands Prix, Russell from 9. After round 17 of 2026, Hamilton is P3 in the championship on 229 points and Russell is P2 on 238.

Season-by-season head-to-head

Each cell reads Hamilton first, Russell second. The better figure is highlighted (lower is better for DNFs and championship position).

Season 2023202420252026* Total
Grands Prix together 2224241787
Race head-to-head 12–5 7–13 5–16 5–9 29–43
Qualifying head-to-head 11–11 5–19 4–20 6–11 26–61
Median qualifying gap Russell 0.044sRussell 0.190sRussell 0.256sRussell 0.122sRussell 0.148s
Points 234–175 223–245 156–319 229–238 842–977
Wins 0–0 2–2 0–2 1–3 3–7
Podiums 6–2 5–4 0–9 6–8 17–23
Poles 1–0 0–3 0–2 0–5 1–10
DNFs 1–4 2–2 2–0 1–3 6–9
Championship P3–P8 P7–P6 P6–P4 P3–P2 —

* 2026 figures run to round 17. Points, wins, podiums and championship positions come from the final standings of each season; points include sprints. Head-to-heads count Grands Prix only: a race counts when both drivers were classified, and qualifying compares final qualifying positions. Poles are qualifying P1, before grid penalties. The median qualifying gap uses the last session (Q1, Q2 or Q3) in which both set a time.

2026 race by race (to round 17)

Qualifying and finishing positions for Hamilton and Russell at every 2026 Grand Prix. Select a race for the full result.

Rd Grand Prix Qualifying Race Ahead in race
HamiltonRussell HamiltonRussell
1 Australian Grand Prix P7 P1 P4 P1 Russell
2 Chinese Grand Prix P3 P2 P3 P2 Russell
3 Japanese Grand Prix P6 P2 P6 P4 Russell
4 Miami Grand Prix P6 P5 P6 P4 Russell
5 Canadian Grand Prix P5 P1 P2 DNF —
6 Monaco Grand Prix P3 P6 P2 P12 Hamilton
7 Barcelona Grand Prix P2 P1 P1 P2 Hamilton
8 Austrian Grand Prix P3 P1 P5 P1 Russell
9 British Grand Prix P3 P4 P3 P2 Russell
10 Belgian Grand Prix P6 P4 P4 DNF —
11 Hungarian Grand Prix P2 P7 P5 P7 Hamilton
12 Dutch Grand Prix P5 P2 P4 P3 Russell
13 Italian Grand Prix P5 P2 P6 P2 Russell
14 Spanish Grand Prix P4 P6 DNF P5 —
15 Azerbaijan Grand Prix P6 P1 P6 P1 Russell
16 Bahrain Grand Prix P2 P8 P3 P20 Hamilton
17 Singapore Grand Prix P3 P6 P6 P9 Hamilton

A dash in the last column means at least one driver was not classified, so the race does not count towards the head-to-head.

2026 points progression

204 0
Lewis Hamilton George Russell

Profiles and teams

Team history covers the seasons compared on this page (2023-2026).

Open in the interactive comparison →

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