“The future belongs to him”- Toto Wolff delighted with George Russell’s work in qualifying

“The future belongs to him”- Toto Wolff delighted with George Russell’s P2 result at the Sakhir Grand Prix qualifying round.

George Russell for the first time in his F1 career went onto end behind his teammate in the qualifying, yet it was his highest ever finish in the same event, the difference is it was Mercedes which he was driving and not Williams, and he was up against Valtteri Bottas instead of Nicholas Latifi.

After the end of the session, Toto Wolff was delighted with Russell’s output, as, without any prior preparation with the current Mercedes car, the British driver gave such a brilliant performance.

“He was very good. You can’t forget that he got into the car and did not fit into the cockpit and does such a lap. The future belongs to him.” said Wolff to SkyGermany.

Toto Wolff on @GeorgeRussell63 ‘s result: “He was very good. You can’t forget that he got into the car and did not fit into the cockpit and does such a lap. The future belongs to him.”

High praise for George!#SkyGermany

— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) December 5, 2020

The Mercedes boss was obviously also pleased with Bottas, who secured his pole position ahead of the race. Showing that even with Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes can maintain its dominance.

“I am happy. Both did a great job today. You have to be satisfied with the result!” he further said.

Great expectations from the race

Russell filling into the shoes of his compatriot- Hamilton is surely a huge responsibility, but he managed to uphold the expectations brilliantly so far.

The above statements somehow validate the speculation of Russell being the future of Mercedes, as at this stage he managed to be so close to Bottas that at once it seemed he might overtake the Finnish driver.

Though, as Wolff rightly mentioned on Friday that one has to remain patient in Russell’s case till the end of the weekend, but after the performance in qualifying, it has been assured that he got the pedigree to be the best driver in the world.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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