Fernando Alonso teases George Russell over Lewis Hamilton's plans to...

Fernando Alonso teased George Russell about Lewis Hamilton’s eye-watering Mercedes salary on the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain. Hamilton is preparing to embark on his final year with the Silver Arrows before joining Ferrari at the end of the season

Hamilton signed a two-year deal with Mercedes last summer with a break option after the first season, which he has decided to activate in order to join Ferrari in 2025. His current deal with the German outfit reportedly includes a salary of around £43million per season, making him one of the highest-paid drivers in the sport’s history.

Speaking in a press conference on Wednesday, Alonso teased Russell over Hamilton’s wage packet while discussing the respective budgets of teams in F1.

“We are more sophisticated in this sport, with £200m budgets per team a year and things like that,” began Alonso, before Russell interjected: “Our budget is £135m, I don’t know if you knew that.” Alonso quickly replied: “Yeah, but you have a very expensive driver alongside you, so it’s more than £200m probably for Mercedes with your team-mate!”

Hamilton previously explained that he chose to join Ferrari in order to fulfil a ‘childhood dream’ of his, saying: “I feel incredibly fortunate, after achieving things with Mercedes that I could only have dreamed of as a kid, that I now have the chance to fulfil another childhood dream. Driving in Ferrari red.

“I still remember the feeling of taking a leap of faith into the unknown when I first joined Mercedes in 2013. I know some people didn’t understand it at the time, but I was right to make the move then and it’s the feeling I have again now. I’m excited to see what I can bring to this new opportunity and what we can do together.”