LEWIS HAMILTON and George Russell are on an “equal playing field” this season and will have NO team orders by Mercedes.
The 23-year-old Russell is now the teammate of F1’s most-successful driver and fellow Englishman Hamilton.
George Russell insists he is on an ‘equal playing field’ with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes
However, the youngster is adamant that the legend will not get preferential treatment in races.
He told BBC: “We are on a level playing field.
“There are no team orders, we have equal treatment totally and they [Mercedes] trust us to go out there and race fairly.”
Discussing his relationship with the seven-time world champion ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Russell said: “We have a very open relationship.
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“I think because we are at very different stages of our careers there is a really strong mutual respect between us.
“We both recognise our fight isn’t with each other as it may be in some other teams.
“For us, we both want to win but at the moment we are not in a position to be able to win, so we need to work together and push in the same direction to make sure our car goes faster.”
Ferrari completed a one-two in the season-opening Bahrain GP with Charles Leclerc winning ahead of Carlos Sainz.
World champ Max Verstappen and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez both had to retire as Hamilton finished third and Russell fourth.
Despite knowing Mercedes are flagging behind their rivals currently, Russell is confident the team will be going full throttle again soon.
He added: “At the moment we know that if we do absolutely everything perfectly we still don’t have the pace in the car to fight with the Red Bull and Ferrari.
“We don’t really know what our timeline is.
“We are working as hard as possible to resolve our issues but the only way we find out if are going to resolve them is when we jump on the track.
“I trust in my team and if anyone can overcome these issues I am sure Mercedes can.”
