“If you do a good job, you’ll be rewarded”– Mercedes to George Russell

“If you do a good job, you’ll be rewarded”– Mercedes promises fortune to George Russell if he performs well in 2021 with Williams.

Mercedes has heavily invested in George Russell, and a couple of years ago, he was sent to Williams to develop with an intention to lead the Silver Arrows in future.

In his third year with Williams, Mercedes is planning to bring him next season, while there is uncertainty over Valtteri Bottas’ future with Mercedes.

“I’m in constant communication with Mercedes obviously because they have always looked after me,” Russell told Sky F1. “I’m their junior driver, and they are in control of my destiny as such, wherever that may be.

“They have always said ‘if you do a good job, you’ll be rewarded.’ It’s as simple as that. I’ll have a Mercedes engine at the back of me next year, no matter what. I’m a Mercedes driver, and I’m loyal to Mercedes.

“I want to be fighting for victories and World Championships. I’ve worked so hard to get into Formula 1, and I didn’t work that hard to be fighting for P15. I’m here to win, I want to win, and that’s what I want to do sooner rather than later.

“I’m just doing my best week in week out and what will come from that, who knows.”

Just need some luck

For the first time with Williams, Russell entered the Q3 and sealed a P8 start for the recent most Grand Prix but eventually failed to be in the points bracket by a position on the main race day; reacting to it, Russell claimed his team just need some luck.

“I was in eighth, on the medium tyre, I had Fernando and Stroll just ahead of me on the soft, and unfortunately, we had a mechanical failure. It’s such a shame for everyone – it doesn’t happen when we’re last for two years; it happens the one time we’re in the points.

“Whenever we’ve just had half a chance there’s always been something that went away from us. It almost felt too good to be true at one point and then when I got that radio message I was like ‘there it was’. You know, that’s racing sometimes.”

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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