George Russell replaces Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for Sakhir GP

Williams’ George Russell will race alongside Valtteri Bottas in Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton signed on Covid-19; Jack Aitken to make his F1 debut at Williams; Russell has been highly rated since his F1 debut last year and is on the Mercedes books.

Britain’s George Russell will replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for this weekend’s Sakhir GP after the seven-time champion was ruled out for coronavirus.

Jack Aitken, a 25-year-old British-Korean, will race in Russell’s place at Williams for his F1 debut.

Russell’s career has been backed by Mercedes since 2017 and he is effectively on loan for three years at Williams, where he has impressed since making his F1 debut last season.

Once Hamilton’s absence in the first race of his career was confirmed after a positive Covid-19 test and a retest, Mercedes approached Williams to see if a deal to release Russell was possible, and confirmation arrived Tuesday morning.

From driving for the team at the bottom of the championship, he will now compete with Mercedes ‘dominant W11 this weekend as Valtteri Bottas’ teammate. Despite several glitches and an impeccable qualifying record over his F1 teammates after 36 races, Russell has yet to score points in F1.

“First of all, I want to thank everyone at Williams for giving me this opportunity. I may be wearing a different suit this weekend, but I am a Williams driver and will cheer on my team every step of the way,” Russell said. , 22 years old.

“I see this as a great opportunity to learn from the best team on the grid right now and come back as an improved driver, with even more energy and experience to help propel Williams further up the grid. A big thank you also to Mercedes.” . for putting your faith in me.

“Obviously no one can replace Lewis, but I will give my all for the team in his absence from the moment he gets in the car. Most importantly, I wish him a speedy recovery. I am looking forward to the opportunity and I can’t wait to get out on the track this week. “

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff thanked Williams for his cooperation.

“First of all, I want to thank our loyal Williams partners for their collaboration and open-mindedness in making it possible for George to race Mercedes this weekend. The conversations with the Williams team were positive and pragmatic, and those were the key factors. to come to an agreement, “Wolff said.

“It won’t be an easy task for George to transition from Williams to W11, but he’s race ready and has a detailed understanding of 2020 tires and how they work on this generation of cars. George has shown impressive form this year with Williams , playing a key role in his rise to the grid, and I am optimistic that he will deliver a good performance alongside Valtteri, who will be a demanding reference for him.

“This race will mark a small milestone for us as we see a member of our Junior program compete for the official Mercedes team for the first time. We have a job to do this weekend, and the entire focus of our sporting endeavors will be behind Valtteri and George to maximize our score as a team. But, of course, our thoughts are with Lewis as well, and we will support him as much as we can to recover quickly during his period of self-isolation. “

Mercedes says it will announce its driver plans for next week’s Abu Dhabi GP, which ends the season, after this week’s second event in Bahrain. Hamilton is isolated for 10 days from Monday, a period ending next Thursday, but it is unclear if he will compete in the final race.

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Hear what Fernando Alonso had to say about George Russell recently when asked to name his driver for the future of F1.

‘This is an opportunity for Mercedes’

Analysis by Craig Slater of Sky Sports News, in Bahrain

“Mercedes is a very diligent team and they like to do things in the right and proper way.

“Mercedes has a reserve driver, Stoffel Vandoorne, who had to come here to replace if something happened to the two front-line drivers.

“He is still flying here from Valencia since the Formula E tests, as I understand it, but this is an opportunity for Mercedes.

“They have George Russell in their driver development program. He has spent a couple of years with Williams, having won the GP2 championship and driven brilliantly. He has outdone his teammate 36 times in a row.”

“But because he’s in the back-ticking car, he hasn’t been able to claim any points, so this was a real opportunity for Mercedes to test it.

“The remarkable thing is that he will go from the bottom of the championship, because he has not scored a point, to potentially being able to win a race in this Grand Prix.

“Russell is certainly someone Mercedes sees as a possible long-term replacement for Lewis Hamilton, perhaps as the team leader if Hamilton decides to walk away from F1 at some point in the next few years.”