George Russell is ‘100 per cent a world champion in the making’ as he looks to achieve the rare feat of beating Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the Formula 1 drivers’ championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

George Russell has been called a ‘world champion in the making’ as he looks to seal the rare feat of beating teammate Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship.

Russell enters the Abu Dhabi finale 25 points ahead of fellow Mercedes driver Hamilton, with 26 points up for grabs for a win and fastest lap.

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Should Russell beat his fellow Brit in the standings, it would be only the third season in which Hamilton has finished lower than a teammate during his trophy-laden 16-year career.

Russell would also be doing so in his first season with Mercedes, in a team where Hamilton has dominated the sport, picking up six of his seven world titles, becoming Formula 1’s most successful driver of all-time.

The 24-year-old would clinch the achievement on a huge high too, having won last time out in Brazil for his first ever F1 victory, capping a masterful weekend display where he was untouchable.

One of the six men to attempt the near-impossible task of toppling Hamilton as a teammate, Heikki Kovalainen, has been as impressed as anyone by Russell, as he told talkSPORT.

The former McLaren and Renault driver said: “I’ve been very impressed, I think he’s come into Mercedes very strong and had a very strong beginning of the season.

“Perhaps Lewis’ beginning of the season was worse than you would expect from him, I think he was experimenting with trying a lot of different things on his car, trying to sort out the bouncing issues.

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“I think you can’t really get the true picture of Lewis’ pace and Russell’s pace at the start of the season and obviously Lewis has come on strong now since they’ve been able to solve the car a bit and the car is getting better we’re seeing normal performances from Lewis.

“But I’ve been very impressed with what Russell has done, I think he’s done a really good job this year and not just being fast and consistent on the track, but his body language out of the car looks very confident

“He’s very switched on and he gives credit to other drivers, he gives credit to Lewis when it’s due, but he’s well aware where he is himself, and he also knows how good he is himself.

“I’ve seen in his body language that he has the true belief in himself, that he believes in his own skill.

“I’ve been very impressed and I’m 100 per cent sure he’s a world champion in making.â€