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Martin Brundle believes that George Russell’s strong performance replacing Lewis Hamilton hurt both the Briton and Valtteri Bottas.
With Hamilton testing positive for COVID-19, the Williams driver was called in to replace him for the Sakhir Grand Prix.
While he only finished P9, that was due to a team pit stop error and a slow puncture. His own performance was excellent as he took the lead from Bottas at the start and then stayed comfortable ahead.
With Hamilton in contract negotiations and the Bottas deal expiring at the end of next season, Brundle feels both values have fallen as a result of Russell’s performance.
“I have no doubt that using Russell in place of the official test driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who was coming in anyway, was a great tactical decision by Toto Wolff,” Brundle said in his column for Sky sports.
With Hamilton playing hard to get a new contract signed, and wondering if Valtteri Bottas was really coming up to the plate lately despite his miserable luck, George would answer a few questions one way or another.
And so it turned out, as he surely led the race after a perfect start, and not feeling completely comfortable inside the car or completely up to speed with all his systems, Russell dramatically increased his own value and opportunities, crowned Hamilton and abolished Bottas. ‘.
“Along with his safety car accident in Imola, young George has taken some body shots this year, but overall it was a very important weekend for him and he seems to have enough confidence and self-confidence to handle it all. “.
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Before the race, many heralded it as a showdown for the Mercedes second seat between Russell and Bottas, and afterward, the consensus was that Russell had won it.
Even the Finnish media felt that way, claiming that the Finn’s stock had “collapsed”.
“Bottas’s shares have collapsed,” Finnish journalist Jyrki Järvilehto told Iltalehti. “It is useless to explain this result.
“George Russell is Mercedes’ future pick.
“Again, a bad start from Valtteri and no fight against Russell after that. This cannot be justified in any way.
“Russell was just the best guy.”
Despite this, Toto Wolff has been adamant that Bottas’ contract will stick and he will drive for Mercedes for at least one more year.
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