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Mercedes announced Tuesday that Lewis Hamilton has been infected with the coronavirus: His two tests on Monday also gave a positive result, so he cannot start at the Sahir Grand Prix this weekend., and their inclusion at the end of the season was also compromised.
The German barn later confirmed Wednesday Hamilton will be replaced by his junior driver George Russell over the weekendso the young rider has a great opportunity with the colors of the stable of world champions.
The British talent debuted in the Williams colors last year in Formula 1 and started this year with the Grove stable in the racing circus, delivering excellent performance – outpacing the timekeeper many times, although he has so far failed to score a point.
At the same time, it was decided that Russell’s car will be driven by Jack Aitken over the weekend at Williams.
“First of all, I would like to thank our loyal partner, Williams, for his contribution and openness in allowing George to race Mercedes this weekend,” said Toto Wolff.
“The negotiations with Williams were positive and pragmatic, and they were key to reaching an agreement.”
“It won’t be easy for George to switch from a Williams car to a W11, but he’s ready to race and knows the 2020 tires very well and how they work on these cars.”
“George showed impressive form at Williams this year, he played a key role in getting ahead on the grid and I am very confident that he will perform well alongside Valtteri, who will be a serious benchmark for him.”
“This race will be a minor milestone for us as we can see one of our junior drivers leading for the first time in the official Mercedes team colors. We have a mission this weekend and we are fully focused on helping Valtter and George score as many points as possible for the team. ”
“But of course we are thinking of Lewis, and we support him as much as possible to recover from voluntary quarantine as soon as possible.”
George Russell post on the community page after the announcement:
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Williams hugely for having this incredible opportunity to race with Mercedes this weekend.”
“I am still a 100 percent Williams runner and I am going to take this opportunity to learn from the best and come back to them as better runners and I will fight hard for those points and get to the middle as this is our goal, we want to be there.”
Later, the team will announce which pair of riders will start at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
