“From Toto’s perspective, hopefully, I have given him a headache, not just for 2022, maybe sooner.”- George Russell seeks earlier Mercedes move.
George Russell appeared for Mercedes in the absence of Lewis hamilton in the Sakhir, over where he gave an impactful performance, but still had to manage with the 9th position on the grid.
Toto Wolff preferring Russell to drive Mercedes’ car instead of the two reserve drivers they have indicates that the Silver Arrows are ready to move onto a future with him.
It has been long speculated that Russell will most probably drive for them from 2022 onwards, but with this exhibition of his skills, he wishes that it stressed Wolff to appoint him sooner.
Can’t change the past, nor things out of your control. Head held high and onto the next ✌️ pic.twitter.com/aGEfruIgDB
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) December 7, 2020
“This has been a great weekend of validation, saying actually we probably have been doing a very good job in the Williams this year,” Russell said. “From Toto’s perspective, hopefully, I have given him a headache, not just for 2022, maybe sooner.”
Toto Wolff guarantees a future for Russell in Mercedes
Bottas is under contract for next year with Mercedes, and although Hamilton is yet to finalise a new deal, he is widely expected to sign a new multi-year agreement in the coming weeks.
Wolff distanced himself from the idea of Russell racing a Mercedes next year but did ponder how he could fit in alongside Hamilton in the future.
“He’s a Williams driver, he signed up to Williams and our driver line-up is Valtteri and Lewis,” Wolff said. “So I don’t see this as a realistic situation at that moment of time.
“But I can understand that it would be an interesting situation to have been both in the team and maybe a bit of a wild ride for all of us. Maybe that will happen in the future.”
Wolff added: “Now we need to see what the future holds. To be honest, I haven’t made up my mind what that means for us.”
