© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Toto Wolff says a future partnership of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in a Mercedes could be “a bit of a wild ride for all of us”.
After George Russell’s sensational performance at the Sakhir Grand Prix, the Formula 1 world is full of speculation and wishful thinking that George Russell might get a Mercedes seat in 2021. This however is not likely to happen. Earlier this year Valtteri Bottas already signed a contract extension for 2021, while Lewis Hamilton is also expected to sign before the year is over.
“He’s a Williams driver, he signed up to Williams and our driver line-up is Valtteri and Lewis,” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said when asked if Russell could land a Mercedes seat next year.
“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 [George Russell and Lewis Hamilton] in the team and maybe a bit of a wild ride for all of us.
“Maybe that will happen in the future. George has always been a Mercedes driver, and he’s a Williams driver now, and I think they can be proud of what he’s done today.
“They will know that his lap times in a Williams are probably the benchmark. Now we need to see what the future holds. To be honest, I haven’t made up my mind what that means for us.”
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Wolff again said Russell being denied his first career win opportunity isn’t something to be sad about, as he managed to show everyone how good he really is.
“This is not a sad day. This is a day where we learn as a team, when we are in a tough fight about a championship, I wouldn’t want the radio to fail.
“And we learned that George Russell is somebody to count on in the future. He has all the potential and all the ingredients that a star needs, a future star needs.
“In that respect, I’m sad for the result that he could have had in his first race for Mercedes, but on the other side, I’m happy about his performance.”
During the Sakhir Grand Prix Friday press conference when Wolff was asked if he is using Russell as a “pawn” in his contract negotiations with Lewis Hamilton, he completely denied any such allegations.
“Lewis has been with the team for eight years. We have had great success in the past, he is a team member and I have said it already, none of the events will interfere or change any of our negotiations.
“That wouldn’t be fair against him and it wouldn’t be fair against us, because it could have gone the other way around and a race weekend where George wouldn’t have been on the pace.
“Our negotiations go much beyond that,” concluded Wolff.
