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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton made fun of his teammate George Russell after the latter claimed that he was a fan of the hip-hop genre in music. The two British drivers are fiercely competitive on the track but get along very well off it and have been spotted having some fun exchanges with each other previously.
It is known that the seven-time world champion shares a deep love for music and has even delved slightly into the field in the past. During their fan interaction at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, both Hamilton and Russell were asked about their favorite genre of music.
While the 39-year-old was quick to respond and choose 'afrobeat', Russell revealed:
"I like a bit of hip-hop. old school hip hop."
But Hamilton was quickly on his case and claimed:
"I heard you playing Katy Perry that time."
The 26-year-old acknowledged as Hamilton further asked:
"You a Taylor Swift fan?"
To which Russell replied:
"Swiftie. I'm a swiftie! I been converted."
During the summer break, Russell and his girlfriend Carmen Montero Mundt were spotted at the Taylor Swift concert in London and even posted some images of the experience on Instagram.
On the track, it was contrasting Friday Free Practice sessions for both Mercedes drivers with Lewis Hamilton having a smoother run compared to Russell's power unit troubles.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell analyze their Friday practice sessions
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton stated that he had a really good Friday practice session as he finished P2 and P3 in the FP1 and FP2 sessions respectively.
As per F1.com, the British driver analyzed his session and said:
“Today was a really good day. I enjoyed it from the start as the car felt strong from the first laps on the track. We made some positive incremental steps on the set-up. There was nothing we had to come back on, and we continued to build throughout."
"Pace-wise, we didn’t complete a huge number of laps on our long run in FP2. We will have to do some comparisons tonight therefore to see where our relative speed is. Our usual competitors looked strong, but I think we are there or thereabouts," he added.
George Russell added that it wasn't the 'smoothest' Friday for him as he finished P8 and P9 in FP1 and FP2 respectively. He said:
“Today wasn’t the smoothest Friday we’ve ever had. Unfortunately, we lost a little bit of running time with a precautionary power unit change ahead of FP2. Once we were out on track, I wasn’t completely happy with the balance of the car. I was struggling to get the tyres in the right window and was lacking a little confidence."
Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were strong in the FP3 session as the latter topped the timing charts with Hamilton finishing in P10 after failing to set a fast time in the closing stages.
