Mercedes test driver Stoffel Vandoorne gave his opinion on why Lewis Hamilton has been losing out to new teammate George Russell in most races this season, as well as the bad luck he has been having with yellow flags and so on.

Vandoorne said that Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes he has a different approach on race weekends. The Belgian driver says that Hamilton is "very dynamic in trying new things," which means that he never has a car the same as Russell's and therefore it becomes difficult to adapt to the car.

Meanwhile, Russell is "mathematical" and his car is being tuned exactly as his engineers want it. Speaking on the Formula One post-race program, he said, "George is obviously doing very well since the beginning of the year."

"He's working very hard with the team, frankly, he's getting the job done and getting the results. That doesn't mean Lewis isn't doing a proper job, he's still probably the best Formula One driver on this grid."

"He didn't get bad overnight. He still knows how to drive a race car, but I don't think he's gotten along with the car yet. He is very dynamic in trying new things with the car because Lewis is used to winning races. He's not used to P4, P5 or P6 and being in that position."

"He wants to turn this car around and wants to understand where the performance is to contend for P1, whereas George is a mathematician. He does the engineers' setup and tries to put the car in the ideal window where the car is good enough for P5 on normal days, Lewis is just trying different things that are not working at the moment. Apart from the fact that circumstances in racing have been unfavorable to him so far."

Vandoorne's comments may explain why Russell has managed to outpace Hamilton in almost every race this season.

Russell claimed his third podium of the season at yesterday's Azerbaijan GP, extending his lead over Hamilton to 37 points. The 24-year-old is only 51 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen, compared to Hamilton's 88-point deficit.

Russell addressed his advantage over Hamilton after yesterday's race, claiming that the seven-time champion will soon be back to his best.

He told Sky Sports F1: "Things are obviously different, but I know how capable and great Lewis is and when we can improve the car, I'm sure he'll be a totally different beast. We're obsessed with trying to solve those problems."

"But we're not fixated on trying to maximize a race weekend and focus on our driving because there are too many problems to think about. I'm sure when we have a good car under us, the real Lewis Hamilton will be there and contending hard."