Lewis Hamilton has been described as "sensitive" by a former Formula 1 champion who has predicted fireworks between the Briton and his new Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
The Silver Arrows enjoyed a surprisingly good first race of the season in Bahrain, with Hamilton making the podium and Russell finishing fourth. They had not expected to be able to come away with anything more than a fifth-placed finish, but took advantage of Red Bull's mechanical disaster late in the race.
Despite that solid start, Mercedes are expected to have a tough time of it in the early parts of the season, with team boss Toto Wolff admitting they are a long way off Red Bull and Ferrari right now in terms of performance. Their problems could get worse if, as many have predicted, some friction appears between the two drivers.
Hamilton got along with previous partner Valtteri Bottas well, but that may have been in part down to the Finn's selfless racing style and apparent inability to provide a serious challenge to his team-mate for the world drivers' title during their five years of sharing a garage.
As one of the most talented young racers around, and someone who has made little secret of his desire to become world champion, Russell is expected to pose an entirely different challenge to Hamilton. In similar situations in the past, the seven-time world champion has not always got along so well with his team-mates.
He and Fernando Alonso did not see eye-to-eye in their one year together at McLaren, and their infighting cost both drivers the title in 2007. Things were similarly tense at times between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, until the German retired after beating his team-mate to the 2016 title.
Two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen believes Hamilton's personality and Russell's eagerness to impress could lead to another hostile atmosphere within the team. "I believe and I know from my experience that Lewis is relatively sensitive," the Finn told Unibet.
"He is a sensitive person. When Valtteri was Lewis' team-mate, the teamwork was perfect. Now, the support he's going to get from Russell... The teamwork could be lost. That's where Lewis can become irritated."
Meanwhile, Hakkinen has also backed Hamilton's current main rival Max Verstappen to be even quicker this season after winning the 2021 title. The Red Bull man, he believes, will be even more sure of himself than he was before now that he can call himself an F1 world champion.
"I'm sure he will be faster than ever, I know from my experience that a title is about two-tenths per lap faster," Hakkinen added. "It's incredible, but it makes you more confident. The driving becomes more precise. You don't just go full speed, you also know what a good lap is. I think Max is capable of that."
