“That will take some replacing” – Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson has paid tribute to ‘leader’ George Russell as he prepares to leave for Mercedes in 2022.
George Russell is set to move to Mercedes next season, which will leave a big void in the Williams racing team. He has been the de-facto leader of the team over the past few seasons, and Dave Robson is proud of what they’ve achieved with him, including a podium at this season’s Belgian Grand Prix.
“It has been a bit of a rollercoaster the last few weeks. Some really good bits and to be honest, now, at the end of a triple-header, it’s been quite tiring. But it’s been good fun. It’s been nice to have some fortune and some genuinely hard and well-earned success.
“In terms of losing George, we’re losing a lot of talent, we’re losing the current real spearhead of a lot of what we do at the track, so that will take some replacing.
“We’re all a bit sad to see George leaving but on the other hand, very excited for him and proud of what we’ve done to help him get into that position.”
It’s official. Next year, I’ll be a Mercedes F1 driver. This is a special day for me and I want to say a huge thank you to @WilliamsRacing, @MercedesAMGF1 and everyone who has supported me in getting to where I am today. I couldn’t have done it without every single one of you. 💙 pic.twitter.com/MmGA1vr9mR
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) September 7, 2021
Nicholas Latifi x Alex Albon for Williams in 2022
Latifi and Albon have been teammates in F2, which will certainly help in the team chemistry next season. Robson is excited about Albon coming in to replace Russell and will do all he can to make the Red Bull product feel at home in Williams.
“All that experience he [Latifi] is getting really helps. Bringing Alex in and all his experience with Red Bull, hopefully, will be really good as well.
“I don’t know him at all. Obviously, I know a little bit about his past in terms of facts and figures and all of that is really impressive and bodes really well.
“George and Nicky both know him really well so I’ve had a little chat about him with them in terms of how he is likely to fit in and what kind of things he will need from us so it all sounds really good.
“We’ve got all that to look forward to, getting to know him as soon as we can and start building the relationship ready for next year. It all looks really good and quite exciting.”
