Mercedes will 'calibrate Russell in the right way' for Hamilton F1 dynamic

On Tuesday Mercedes announced Russell would be replacing Valtteri Bottas as Hamilton’s new teammate from next season following three years of impressive performances for Williams.

Mercedes is determined to avoid the difficulties it endured between 2014-2016 when Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were battling it out for world championships during a fierce rivalry.

But Wolff believes Mercedes is now “better prepared” to handle the prospect of an intra-team battle after making the first change to its driver line-up in five years.

“He’s proven that he deserves a seat in a top car and now we need to get him properly adjusted into the Mercedes situation,” Wolff told Sky Sports. “There’s a lot more pressure.

“He’s having an unbelievable teammate with the biggest records and there it’s important you condition him in the right way and calibrate him in the right way. We’ve seen situations in the past where they’ve failed.

“Lewis was part of one where I think the team didn’t quite understand how it could potentially go and maybe we’re better prepared for that situation, but nevertheless, he has all the ambition to be a future world champion and so has Lewis to have another one so it’s about calibration.”

Speaking on Thursday, Hamilton suggested the arrival of 23-year-old Russell will “energise” the team and Wolff insisted he has no concerns that things could get out of hand between the pair.

“You have to respect the other guy’s perspective and ambition,” Wolff added. “We are not going to put a driver in the car who’s not going to have the ambition to do as good as possible to kick his teammate as hard as he can, win races and championships early.

“That’s clear, so I can put myself into his perspective so I am trying to discuss with him [Russell] what that means for the team dynamic, what it could mean, and how we need to keep the momentum in the team and he’s very intelligent, he gets that.”

Russell insisted he will be free to race Hamilton on “level terms” at Mercedes next season, something that Wolff also indicated as he revealed Mercedes’ expectations for its protege.

"We would be satisfied if he would be in the top three in terms of the car package competing for victories,” Wolff said. “That’s always our ambition that we arrive with over the long term, this is the winning recipe.

“If we have a car that can develop that we are able to actually go for the championship then absolutely. He has the same car that has Lewis and he has the pace. In qualifying, he’s very, very fast and I am sure it’s going to be fine.”