Emerson Fittipaldi has given his thoughts on the battle at Mercedes between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

The two drivers have not been able to challenge right up at the sharp end of the field this season, as they would have wanted, with Red Bull and Ferrari getting a better handle on the 2022 regulations and producing very quick cars.

Indeed, Merc have been playing catch-up for the entirety of the year and though they have had some decent moments they are obviously staring down the barrel of losing their streak of Constructors' title wins.

As for the intra-team battle, meanwhile, Russell is actually ahead of Hamilton in the Drivers' standings, though it should be mentioned Lewis had to deal with a few more experiments from the team in the early stages of the season as they bid to sort their car out.

Nevertheless, it's been a strong showing from George in his first year with the Silver Arrows, and Fittipaldi is looking forward to the battle progressing:

"I think it'll be great to see how they do against each other," he said to Vegas Insider.

"I could see at the beginning of the season, Lewis was taking more time to adapt to the new rules. But recently he has improved his performance and adapted. The Mercedes car is better now. He reversed the situation.

"It will be tough between both. Lewis has always been extremely talented and is a great champion. And George Russell, trying to be there. He's the challenger. It'll be great to watch.

"Good question. Difficult to answer, but good question."

Lewis Hamilton & George Russell

ZANDVOORT, NETHERLANDS - SEPTEMBER 04: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W13 leads George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W13 during the F1 Grand Prix of The Netherlands at Circuit Zandvoort on September 04, 2022 in Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Formula 1 has always been about battles between team-mates as much as anything else, with some great rivalries over the years.

Hamilton and Russell appear to have a positive and respectful relationship with Russell clearly eager to learn off his older team-mate, and both are obviously very good drivers.

It'll be interesting to see how the dynamic evolves if and when Mercedes get back to having a race-winning car.