Did anyone said, that Bottas/Button/Rosberg (alphabetical order) was overall smarter/better driver than LH? I doubt it. Maybe some people named him an underdog when he was competing with Alonso in McL, but that was 15 years ago! Is he a god of racetracks? No. Even he makes mistakes, but usually far, far less than other drivers.
Is Russell more professional at his age? I'm 100% sure. We won't see Twitter dramas set up by him, he won't post telemetrical data online. If Lewis started his career in 2018, at Russell's age, would he made a PowerPoint presentation for Toto? Once more time - I doubt it.
Was Lewis the better driver in past seasons? Yup, 9/10 times. And even if he was beated, his rival was exhausted to the bone, like Rosberg, who immediately left F1. But now he is competing with Russell, and that season might be his toughest in F1
Is Russell less experienced & a "hot blood" driver? Yes, he made some stupid errors in past years (he Grosjeaned himself out of track at Emilia-Romagna GP 2020, His collision with Bottas next year was also "unnecessary"), but he's young, he will be better & better.