Lewis Hamilton admits faking illness as George Russell too sick for Mercedes team event

Lewis Hamilton admitted he has faked illness to get out of Formula 1 test days in the past, as team-mate George Russell missed out on a team event through sickness.

 

 

Mercedes managed second place in the championship at the end of a long an arduous season for the team. And to give thanks to staff for their hard work, team principal Toto Wolff was joined by Hamilton and reserve driver Mick Schumacher on a visit to their Brackley and Brixworth facilities.

 

Both visits were caught on camera and shared in a video on the team’s official channel s. But Russell was conspicuous by his absence in both visits.

 

 

It didn’t take long for it to be addressed – sitting between Schumacher and Hamilton, Wolff told the room why their other driver was not present. “George is really ill. It’s not a sickie that he’s pulled,” joked the Austrian.

 

 

Hamilton smiled and picked up his microphone to respond: “I was wondering!” And that was when he made his confession in front of his boss: “In the past, I have done that to miss the test days, because generally I don’t like test days.

 

 

So, yesterday, when I head that [Russell] was sick, I was like, ‘Oh, he’s one-upped me, he’s gone to another level’.” Fortunately for the seven-time world champion, Wolff was still smiling despite learning of his star driver’s preference to skive off work.