Mercedes are, of course, acutely aware that the dynamic between their two drivers is under huge scrutiny. They experienced the nuclear fallout between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in 2016 as they scrapped bitterly over that year’s title and have no wish to go through that again. Russell was recruited partly because he is a safe pair of hands. Not too alpha. Respectful of Hamilton and his achievements.

And Russell, to his credit, has been as assured out of the car as he has been in it. He knows as well as anyone the potential to cause unnecessary tension should he sound a little too combative, a little too pleased to have edged out his team-mate in this race or that session. Similarly, he knows he cannot sound too deferential or he will be accused of lacking the necessary minerals to one day make it to the top. So far, he has pitched it just about right.

Sitting down with reporters before the first race in Bahrain last month, Russell made all the right noises about respecting Hamilton’s career, his methods, his experience. But he also made it abundantly clear he was not coming to Brackley to be Hamilton’s wingman. “If I perform, I will not ever be in that position,” he said firmly. “It is not whether I am willing to be Lewis’s wingman. I would be disappointed if I found myself in that position because I would not have done the job.

“Nobody who finds themselves there can be upset with anyone else as they are there for a reason. They have not performed.”

Russell has continued in the same assured vein since; praising Hamilton without being overly deferential, making clear that this is a very different situation to Hamilton and Rosberg six years ago. “I’m the new kid within the team and I’m not going to go out there trying to be the leader of the team when I’m going up against the greatest of all time, who’s been here for 10 years,” Russell told Sky Sports this week in the latest spin on the same argument. “He’s like the captain of the team and that’s how it should be.”

Asked whether they might fall out if it got tight between them, Russell continued: “I’m 24 years old going up against the greatest of all time, if he were to finish ahead of me, obviously I don’t like it but I’m not going to cry and sulk about it.”

But what about if it were the other way around? That is the big question.

Russell says Hamilton would be able to cope because he will always be “the leader” of the team. But leaders do not get beaten. Certainly not leaders such as Hamilton.

With each race that goes by without Mercedes being competitive, Hamilton’s frustration is bound to grow. If he starts getting beaten a little too regularly by his young team-mate, it remains to be seen how he will react. At the moment, Russell is performing his delicate balancing act beautifully.