It's going to be a loong season.
Hamilton is actually in a very good position now in terms of points.
He is very adaptable, but if you follow his career he usually takes the first quarter of the season to figure out what's going on and what he needs to do to get into a groove. After that things start to click in his head and he starts to operate like a machine.
Russell is behind on points and if he wants to beat Lewis this year he needs to finish ahead in a few more races before LH wakes up.
Nico took the same approach. Win qualifying and survive the first stint.
Russell is running more downforce for sure and taking more risk with the setup to ensure he is ahead at the start.
Lewis need only get on top of the balance of the car and limit the occadional brain fades and he should be alright.
In the grand scheme of things. The car isn't as bad as last year if both the drivers are always in q3. It's just not able to race redbull. I expect both LH and George to be closely matched on points because of this.