F1 fans pick Alonso and Russell to beat Hamilton

The UK Express newspaper did a poll of F1 fans who have tipped Lewis Hamilton to finish behind Fernando Alonso and George Russell in the 2023 Drivers’ Championship standings.

Express Sport readers are expecting Hamilton to end up below the pair at the end of the 2023 season, though, which would mark another crushing blow for the Brit as he continues to struggle at Mercedes.

And 65 percent of respondents to their latest F1 poll believe that Russell will eventually overtake Hamilton on points, with the man from King’s Lynn having finished above his Mercedes team-mate at the end of his first season at the team last year.

Meanwhile, a resounding 86 percent of voters are backing Alonso to join Russell in finishing ahead of Hamilton after getting on the podium four times in his last five Grand Prix weekends.

Toto Wolff recently admitted that he has found it somewhat awkward to negotiate a new deal with Hamilton over the last few weeks, hinting that much of the delay has been down to embarrassment over discussing the financial side of things.

How does he pay Hamilton so much money when he is only the 2nd best driver on the Mercedes F1 team?