Mercedes' George Russell enjoyed a strong campaign in his first season as a full-time driver for the Brackley-based team.

The 24-year-old Brit moved to Mercedes from Williams for the 2022 season, replacing Valtteri Bottas as the teammate of seven-time World Drivers' Champion Lewis Hamilton.

Russell took his maiden pole position in Formula 1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix and later went on to win his first-ever race when he triumphed at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Ultimately, Russell outscored his new colleague Hamilton by 275 points to 240 to claim fourth place in the Drivers' Championship. A remarkable achievement that few of Hamilton's previous teammates have managed.

Russell recently sat down with The High Performance Podcast to reflect upon the biggest season of his career and paid tribute to Hamilton, calling him "incredibly inspiring".

Read more: The High Performance Podcast hub

"Lewis is an incredibly unique character. I think he's incredibly inspiring with all of his sort of activities and projects he has off-circuit. When you look at maybe drivers from the past who are just pure racing drivers and gonna wake up living and breathing this sport, and he does things so differently to so many other people, yet has still had so much success along the way."

Russell added: "I think I've used this analogy before, but when I look at Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, these are three greats at the sport statistically, they've all basically achieved exactly the same achievements, yet they have three totally different ways of playing.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - MARCH 10: George Russell of Great Britain and Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes walk in the Paddock during Day One of F1 Testing at Bahrain International Circuit on March 10, 2022 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

"When you see them on court, you know, they excel on different, courts or playing fields or whatever. Yet they're three greats.

"And I think the thing I take away from that, and also from what I take away from Lewis, is that there is no one path to success. I think you need to find your own path, your own journey. You need to have that self belief. Even if somebody is going down a certain path, you need to follow your own course and you need to do what is best for you."

The young star is hardly the first to wax lyrical about Hamilton's exceptional talent and bulletproof mindset.

Over the years, some of the very biggest names in the sport have hailed Hamilton as the F1 GOAT and we've taken a look at eight examples below.

Jackie Stewart (Three-time F1 World Drivers' Champion)

"I have held the record for 44 years and records are meant to be broken," said Stewart, per Motorsport Week after Hamilton clinched a fourth World Championship in 2017.

"He [Hamilton] has earned the right to be called Britain's greatest. He has made big decisions. He left McLaren and that was a surprise to a lot of people including me. He made that right decision and went to Mercedes, it was a big decision and the right decision. He has learned so much.

"Lewis has been in a great team with a great package but nevertheless you have to drive the car and get it to the finish line."

The Ultimate Lewis Hamilton Quiz

Emerson Fittipaldi (Double Formula 1 World Drivers' Champion)

"I like Lewis, I think he's one of the top guys in grand prix racing," Fittipaldi told Autosport.

"I think he's a fantastic driver. He's extremely talented, and he has a great style of driving that I like. He's very aggressive at overtaking people.

"He's good for motorsport, he puts on a great show. We need this in grand prix racing, we're missing action, and he's the action man!

"If you get the top three or four drivers in grand prix racing, and make a time machine, and for example have Lewis come back to my time, driving my McLaren or my JPS Lotus, he'd be tough for me to beat. And for Jackie Stewart.

"No doubt about it, he'd be one of the top guys."

F1 legend Emerson Fittipaldi

CHICHESTER, ENGLAND - JULY 10: Emerson Fittipaldi looks on during the Goodwood Festival of Speed at Goodwood on July 10, 2021 in Chichester, England. (Photo by James Bearne/Getty Images)

Damon Hill (1996 World Driver's Champion)

"It should be self-evident that Lewis is the greatest racer we’ve ever produced," Hill admitted when speaking to the Daily Mail in 2019.

"Year-in and year-out, he has delivered against all comers in all situations and he has got this down to a fine art now, the way he goes about it.

"He has matured in every respect. He is properly formidable as a competitor. He is probably at the height of his powers and he knows it and he is relaxed about it.

"Perhaps he doesn’t get the wider credit he deserves but that is a problem with our sport."

Video: George Russell opens up on how his life changed at the Monaco Grand Prix

Rubens Barrichello (Former Ferrari driver)

"Hamilton has a talent that is possibly even greater than that of Ayrton [Senna] and [Michael] Schumacher," said Barichello to ESPN Brazil, via The Week.

"The only thing he lacked was maturity. He has progressed on that, and today you see the final product.

“When I listened to the radio in Brazil, I noticed that he is incredibly calm, passing on information, saying what he does and doesn’t need." 

"The perfect driver would have Ayrton’s skill, Schumacher’s courage and Hamilton’s coordination. It would be something to see!"

Rubens Barichello at Ferrari

SHANGHAI, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 25: Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello gives a thumbs up to journalists after taking Pole position during the qualifying session for the inaugural Formula One Chinese Grand Prix on September 25, 2004 at Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/POOL/Getty Images)

Sebastian Vettel (Four-time World Driver's Champion)

"I think he is the greatest of our era, for sure," Vettel said of Hamilton after he recorded his 100th career race victory at the Russian Grand Prix in 2021.

"I think it’s always difficult to compare," admitted Vettel, per SilverArrows.net.

"How can you possibly compare [Juan Manuel] Fangio, Stirling Moss to our generation? You can’t.

"Maybe we would be useless because we’d all be s****** ourselves in those cars. Maybe they would be useless in our cars because they’re way too fast, who knows?

"But it doesn’t matter. I think every era has its driver, or its drivers, and Lewis is certainly the biggest, greatest of our era.

"To me, certainly emotionally, Michael [Schumacher] will always be the greatest driver. But there’s no doubt Lewis is the greatest in terms of what he has achieved."

Vettel, Hamilton, Schumacher, Verstappen: Who is the greatest F1 driver of all time?

NOIDA, INDIA - OCTOBER 27: Race winner and 2013 Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Infiniti Red Bull Racing celebrates on the podium following the Indian Formula One Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit on October 27, 2013 in Noida, India. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Nico Rosberg (2016 World Drivers' Champion and ex-Hamilton teammate)

"Lewis is just extreme by nature. In terms of talent, he is probably the best of all time and he really builds on that, this instinct is phenomenal with him," Rosberg told Bild in October 2021, via GrandPrix247.

Murray Walker (Legendary F1 Commentator)

The iconic voice of F1 spend eight decades watching the very best in the history of the sport, prior to his passing in 2021 at the age of 97.

Walker weighed in on the GOAT debate when speaking to The Sun in 2020.

"I think I'm going to have to say very shortly Lewis Hamilton, because if you look at it in terms of statistics, he's already got more poles than Schumacher.

"He's got at least three years in him if he doesn't hurt himself or leave Mercedes for some reason or they decide to stop, in which case he's got at least another three championships ahead of him, so statistically he will become the greatest.

"But he's also in my opinion -- and this is very contentious indeed -- better than either Schumacher or Senna because both of them, Schumacher and Senna, adopted at various times in their career highly debatable driving tactics."

F1 legend Murray Walker

Murray Walker

Michael Schumacher (Fellow seven-time World Drivers' Champion)

We'll leave the final word on Hamilton's greatness to his biggest rival for the GOAT crown, Schumacher.

Back in 2008 - just one year into Hamilton's F1 career - the German iconic made an impressively accurate prediction about the Brit's future in the sport.

"I would say, absolutely, yes," he admitted, per The Express, when asked if Hamilton could match his career accomplishments.

Michael Schumacher at Ferrari
MONZA - SEPTEMBER 13: Michael Schumacher of Germany and Ferrari awaits the start of first practice for the FIA Formula One Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo di Monza, Italy on September 13, 2002. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

MONZA - SEPTEMBER 13: Michael Schumacher of Germany and Ferrari awaits the start of first practice for the FIA Formula One Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo di Monza, Italy on September 13, 2002. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

"Nobody thought, even me, that I could beat (five-time champion Juan Manuel) Fangio. Then I did. Records are there to be beaten. I've got no problem about it."

For Russell to speak so glowingly about Hamilton after he ended the season without a win for the first time in his storied career is a testament to the 37-year-old's enduring legacy in the sport.

Hamilton may not always have been the most popular driver on the grid, but his talent and drive are both undeniable.

If Russell ends his own career with anywhere near the same level of acclaim as Hamilton, he'll no doubt be a very happy man indeed.

Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes will tour the UK with the High Performance live show next year.