Who will replace Hamilton on the British F1 throne?

“He’s got a very long career ahead of him, so absolutely Max Verstappen can eclipse my records,” said Lewis Hamilton at the recent Canadian Grand Prix. “Ultimately, records are there to be broken. And he’s got an amazing team. 

“But as I’ve said, we’ve got to work harder to try and continue to extend [those records]. I hope we get to have, at least within the last period of time in my career, some more close racing.” 

Things move on fast. Not even two years ago, Hamilton became the first driver to reach 100 Formula 1 race wins. Since that day in Sochi, the Briton has added just three more, lost the 2021 world title in devastating, incorrect and controversial circumstances, and seen his Mercedes squad slip behind Red Bull in the pecking order through the championship’s latest rules reset. 

Now, Verstappen’s Red Bull squad has just hit 100 victories. And it can be firmly stated now: the Dutchman’s success not only ended Hamilton’s title run, but it finished the Hamilton era. Perhaps there will be one glorious final chapter for the seven-time world champion – leading Mercedes back to the front, a new deal between the two sides said to be down to the final sticking points and set to be announced soon. Such a happy twist would land Hamilton yet another record: the ultimate one, eight world championships, ahead of Michael Schumacher. Maybe there will be room and time for more… 

PLUS: How Vettel played a key role in Verstappen's Red Bull engineer relationship

But in following up that nailbiting 2021 title triumph with domination in 2022 and early in the current campaign, it’s clear that Verstappen has taken Hamilton’s mantle as F1’s leading star. He, ultimately, was the heir to that esteemed position. Just as Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel once were to Schumacher and then both were eclipsed by Hamilton.  

Autosport has already pondered who would ultimately reach that point – most recently in our 7 January 2021 edition, where Verstappen (plus Charles Leclerc) was actually excluded in our consideration given it was clear how much potential he already had in F1 machinery. But, with the British Grand Prix just around the corner after this weekend’s Austrian round, it’s worth taking another look at the coming years from the perspective of British F1 fans.

Since winning his eighth British Grand Prix after clashing with Verstappen in 2021, Hamilton has seen the Red Bull driver take back-to-back world titles

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

They will turn out in their legions once again at Silverstone to cheer Hamilton next week as he seeks a record-extending ninth triumph on home soil. But increasingly, thanks to the popularity of Netflix hit Drive to Survive, there are other Britons with their own hefty groups of supporters, in addition to those who followed them through the junior formulas and onto the grand prix grid. 

The question of who’ll become the main attraction at Silverstone in the years to come isn’t just a good pub debate. It’s big business for the track itself and its owner, the British Racing Drivers’ Club. Silverstone boss Stuart Pringle has long been frank about the benefits of Hamilton’s success on ticket sales, which mirrors that of British drivers from previous eras. It’s one of the key reasons why the BRDC teams up with Aston Martin and Autosport every year to host the Young Driver of the Year Award. Each year, the winner might be the next big F1 hit on these shores.  

There are two Award winners on the grid in 2023. They are Mercedes star George Russell (2014 winner) and McLaren ace Lando Norris (2016). And they’re joined by another finalist who actually pushed Russell hard on his way to success in the Silverstone-based assessments nine years ago: Williams’s Alex Albon.  

Autosport recently sat down with all three, seeking updates on their 2023 campaigns. Norris cops the ultimate question we’re reflecting on today: can he be Hamilton’s heir as the best British driver, perhaps with the biggest following in this country during the coming years? 

"You can be the best driver in the world and you can still not win a race because the car is not good enough. We both want to be [the best Briton], but there’s also room for two" Lando Norris

“I mean I would love to say, yes!” he replies. “But it’s difficult. Sometimes it’s just out of your control. Yeah, I want to be. I’m sure George wants to be at the same time. He’s in a Mercedes, he’s probably closer to that position than I am.  

“I’m sure we both want to be, but there’s only so much you can do. You can be the best driver in the world and you can still not win a race because the car is not good enough. We both want to be, but there’s also room for two.”

Let’s expand that to three. After all, London-born Albon holds dual Thai-British citizenship and a British passport. Plus, he races for Williams – arguably the most British F1 team of them all, even with its recent ownership change to an American private investment firm. 

In 2023, as Norris acknowledges, Russell currently leads the way thanks to his position alongside Hamilton at Mercedes. He made a very strong start to his second season with the manufacturer that has backed him since 2017, equalling his illustrious team-mate 4-4 in their qualifying head-to-head and leading the Australian GP until Albon’s crash brought out a red flag.

Not many non-Red Bull drivers have led a race this year, but Russell did just that after beating Verstappen off the line in Melbourne

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

After that Russell retired with an engine failure, which was the biggest hit to his points haul until his Canada gaffe chasing Fernando Alonso that indirectly led to his retirement with excessively worn brakes. His beautifully battling rise from 12th to third in Spain, however, was the highlight so far. 

Norris is five places behind Russell’s sixth position in the drivers’ standings, and his current 11th spot would equal his worst end-of-season championship result for McLaren of his burgeoning career. This has much to do with the shortcomings at the orange team.  It got its off-season development targets wrong, especially regarding aerodynamic efficiency, and it was the floor and rear wing updates at Baku in late April that finally got the MCL60 to where McLaren had wanted to start the season.

Norris has since scored the lion’s share of his squad’s 17 points, with his sixth place in Melbourne (boosted by the late crash chaos) the highlight. A penalty for going too slowly behind the safety car last time out in Canada – an attempt to avoid losing time in a double-stack stop behind team-mate Oscar Piastri that Norris bizarrely didn’t acknowledge – cost him two more points. But even had Norris secured them, he’d have remained 11th in the standings and just one spot above Albon heading to Austria.  

Although he scored a point with a strong drive holding off quicker rivals in the season-opener back in Bahrain, the most recent race was the high point of Albon’s year so far. Given the tricky, but effective, one-stop strategy to enact in the only Williams running the extensive floor and upper aero surface updates in Canada, he used its inherently slippery characteristics to brilliantly hold off the pursuing mid-pack two-stoppers on their fresher rubber, once Russell had retired from his wake approaching the closing stages.  

This followed poor moments earlier in the campaign. Albon’s Australia crash was triggered by going too wide at Albert Park’s fifth corner, spiking his left-rear tyre temperature and triggering a big accident at the next turn. Then he needlessly damaged his nose and potential finishing position in Baku. 

Those races were followed by a tricky period for Williams where “everyone was starting to bring upgrades and as that happened we were just slightly falling down a little bit”, according to Albon. He and the rest of the Williams squad now head to Austria, where they will evaluate the first big development package of the team’s season. McLaren is also set to bring a substantial upgrade package this weekend. 

“We’re still in the fight,” says Albon, who identifies his qualifying prowess – he leads team-mate Logan Sargeant 8-0 in their head-to-head, has made Q3 twice, plus brilliantly topped Q2 in Montreal after leading the brief switch to slicks – as one of the best aspects of his 2023 campaign to date. “We qualified into Q2 [in Monaco] on a tricky track. I’m happy with that aspect – I feel like there’s a lot of motivation that comes with knowing that you’re in the hunt for Q2 and Q3 every weekend. But you always want more.”

Albon has impressed with his qualifying prowess for Williams this year, making Q3 for a second time in Canada

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

All three are actually having a harder time of things in 2023 thanks to the significant year-on-year progress of one squad: Aston Martin. The green team has catapulted clear of the crowded midfield this term thanks to its freshly deep resources and early decision to head down the Red Bull ground effect design path last year. And Albon reckons the retirement rate is lower in 2023 too, which is backed by the average classification total from the opening eight events last year sitting at 17 versus 18.4 for 2023.  

“I feel like everyone has got their act together this year,” Albon explains. “You’re not getting people with DNFs, really. Whereas last year, we could pick up the pieces a little bit.  

“This year, a really good example was Monaco. Raining late, expecting chaos, and yet I think almost all 20 cars finished the race. Kevin [Magnussen] stopped at the end to save mileage or whatever. It’s hard to break into the points. And especially with the Astons doing so well. There are only two positions up for grabs every weekend.  

“It makes the Sundays hard. I’m happy with the season so far, but at the same time, naturally it’s purely just a tough season. It’s hard to get into the points.” 

"I know Alex from back in the Mercedes sim days – when I had both George and Alex at the same time. And they have a lot of similarities. The thought process is different, the driving style is similar in many regards" James Vowles

Albon’s qualifying success with a tricky, limited Williams package – an area where he also shone last year – is reminiscent of Russell’s three-year stint with the same squad. The team is now helmed by James Vowles, who until the start of 2023 was Mercedes’ motorsport strategy director (he was previously and most famously its race tactics chief as opposed to a more overarching team strategy manager).

Vowles is therefore uniquely placed on comparing Albon and Russell, with added insight from their days working as Mercedes simulator drivers in the two years leading up to 2018. Albon pushed Russell close enough in the 2014 Young Driver tests that the now 25-year-old (Albon is two years older, Norris two younger) couldn’t dominate the assessment outings in various machinery, as Norris would do two years later. 

“George and Alex came up through the ranks very close to one another and were very close in terms of performance the whole way through,” Vowles explains. “I know Alex from back in the Mercedes sim days – when I had both George and Alex at the same time. And they have a lot of similarities. Huge amount of similarities. The thought process is different, the driving style is similar in many regards.  

“Alex is great here [at Williams]. He’s a real leader of the team, he does a great job, he brings every millisecond out of it in qualifying – he really does. He’s deserving to be in Formula 1 and I’m incredibly proud that he’s here in this organisation. And the same, by the way, I would’ve said about George.

Albon and Russell came up through the ranks at a similar time and each knows the challenges of standing out in inconsistent Williams machinery

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“It’s hard to compare them directly – they’ve never raced in the same car, particularly. But what I can say is that in the sim they would challenge one another for who was fastest, which is what I’d want to see. Certainly, drivers are not what is holding us back today [at Williams].” 

Norris, Russell and Albon are all different characters. The first is perhaps the most irreverent, although in an overwhelming positive way, Norris’s media and in-cockpit comments typically a breath of maverick fresh air. Russell is the most serious of the trio, handy for a Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director and the only one competing on the current grid. Albon is so relaxed it’s often a shock to hear him let rip on his team radio, which is something Williams encourages. 

They are famously very good friends. This is not unique to F1 drivers throughout history – think Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins in the championship’s infancy – but in today’s social media age, such companionship is more easily witnessed and, of course, commented upon.  Since late last year, all three have lived in Monaco, golf and paddle tennis often featuring on their combined schedules “if we’ve got no one else to hang out with!” jokes Albon. 

“You can still be normal people and get along with each other, I think,” points out Norris. “I don’t think you have to hate people and treat people badly just because you race against them. We just have respect – simple as that.” 

This trio is also part of a larger generation of F1 drivers to break through to the top level in the past decade. Carlos Sainz and Verstappen arrived first, soon joined by Esteban Ocon, then Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and Leclerc. Nyck de Vries, their karting contemporary, joined the F1 grid full time this year. Based on their paddock interactions, it seems Norris is the one to get on best with Verstappen – the same not likely to be said about Russell of late following their ugly clash in the Baku pitlane.

“Again, just a lot of respect I think between one another,” Norris says of this relationship. “Respect for what Max has done and achieved at such an age – what he still does now. And I feel like it goes the other way.” 

The 2023 campaign is a neat milestone in the respective careers of Russell, Norris and Albon, for it’s five years since that famous Formula 2 campaign in which the trio battled for the title that ultimately went to Russell (a 2018 F2 rookie along with Norris, while Albon was making his second run at the feeder series crown despite lacking backing, at that stage, of an F1 benefactor). 

Even before that season had finished, all three were set to graduate to F1 for 2019. When they arrived, their respective positions in the pecking order were rather different to where they are now.

Norris says there's no reason why the trio can't continue to get along and be "normal people"

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Russell was at the back, with Williams, while Albon and Norris drove for, respectively, Toro Rosso (soon to be AlphaTauri) and McLaren squads on the rise. Albon then spent a difficult period as Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate before briefly leaving F1 altogether in 2021, while Norris challenged for race victories following 2020 podium progress and McLaren’s best season since 2012.  

When Albon returned, he did so with Russell having jumped up to Mercedes and with Norris’s McLaren squad paying the price of its massive infrastructure investment being undermined by the timing of the pandemic, which meant it’s yet to be felt in the new ground- effect machinery produced at Woking. 

“We’ve got a good understanding for one another, with whatever we’re going through,” Russell says of a group bond that includes sharing travel to F1 races, as well as advice on non-racing activities, interests and life logistics. “And I think the friendship has remained because we’re fortunately, or unfortunately, not actually racing one another on-track.

"It’s quite sweet that we’ve been able to come through the ranks and we’ve experienced the lows and the highs. Gone through, for example, George staying at my place, my mum cooking us dinner and stuff like that" Alex Albon

“This season Alex and Lando are probably the closest we’ve ever really battled other than that 2018 year. I think it’s good, it’s healthy, but ultimately when the helmet is on you’re this competitive warrior. Equally, I’m sure if there were to be an on-track incident, we’d sweep it under the carpet on the first occasion and move on.” 

“I was speaking to George about it the other day, you kind of have to appreciate when you realise how far we’ve got,” adds Albon. “And it’s very nice to be able to do it together.

“It’s quite – it’s weird to say it in first person – but it’s quite sweet that we’ve been able to come through the ranks and we’ve experienced the lows and the highs. Gone through, for example, George staying at my place, my mum cooking us dinner and stuff like that. And then now we’re at a point where we’re travelling around the world together, sharing flights together – it’s just an extraordinary change!  

“I think it makes us almost feel more privileged. It feels very nice to be able to share the growth and experience together. We were talking and looking back at our days and acting like we’re 40 years old, when we’ve only been in F1 for a little bit! But it’s nice to be able to share that experience with some of your close friends.”

Albon says rising through the ranks with his former F2 rivals makes their achievements all the more special

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

There is one thing all three are firmly united on.

“Even if you’re best mates in the world, you throw that all out the window as soon as you get on the circuit,” explains Norris. “Again, just class and respect.” 

And then there’s the elephant in the room – that to truly succeed at the top level, such a level of ruthlessness can often destroy relationships. Just look at Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. From delighted Melbourne 2008 pre-podium hugs representing McLaren and Williams evoking memories of their karting days, to barely being able to utter each other’s names after their bitter years as title rivals at Mercedes. 

Even without the pressure of a title fight, a big crash could also lead to tough questions for this current crop, as Albon concludes: “Here is one thing which I haven’t discovered yet – we’ve never had a big crash. Or like an absolute rivalry. Which, maybe, it does change. But I haven’t been in the position to be able to tell you. Maybe, then… we’ll stop sharing flights at that point!” 

In a championship nicknamed the ‘Piranha Club’, the friendship and all-round decency displayed by this trio is a delightful subplot. If they all end up in race-winning machinery making the main act together one day, it won’t just be British F1 supporters in for a treat.

The fluctuating performance of their cars means Russell, Norris and Albon have rarely fought over the same piece of track in F1 - but could they some day end up battling each other for wins?

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images