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George Russell has increased the pressure on Mercedes to deliver a unit to him for 2021, claiming that his performance on Sunday has given team principal Toto Wolff “a headache” over his future plans.
Russell, who is currently racing for Williams, replaced Lewis Hamilton for the Sakhir Grand Prix after the seven-time champion contracted the Covid-19.
The 22-year-old produced a stellar display over the weekend, coming within 0.026 seconds of claiming pole, and had it not been for a Mercedes pit stop error and a slow puncture late in the race, he would have taken the checkered flag.
After Wolff declared Russell a “future star”, there is now increasing pressure on the Mercedes boss to consider trading ex-Williams driver Valtteri Bottas and Russell next year.
“I guess from Toto’s perspective, hopefully I’ve given him a headache, not just for 2022, maybe sooner,” Russell said. “[Mercedes] I’ve followed my entire career very closely, but I hope this is just another step up the ladder. ”
There is a slim chance that Hamilton, who has not yet committed to competing beyond this year, could walk away from the sport, providing the team with the ideal opportunity to give Russell a permanent boost.
But if that doesn’t happen, Russell believes he may now have made a case for him to step forward next year anyway, given that it will be a crucial development season with all teams preparing new cars for a major regulation change. scale in 2022.
“I think the best way to talk is on the track,” Russell said. “Mercedes has supported me since the end of 2016. This is a performance industry and I hope this weekend has cemented its views on me.”
Russell, who could be back at Mercedes this weekend if Hamilton fails to return a negative test for Covid-19, led his first race for the team until a failed pit stop saw his car fitted with the wrong tires, making him That prompted the need to stop a second time.
Although he defended three seconds from the lead, a puncture dropped him to 15th place from where he defended again to claim his first F1 points in 37 attempts with a ninth place and a point for the fastest lap.
When asked if his performance has validated him, Russell said: “I have worked incredibly hard with Williams to extract everything possible and there have been so many times that we felt we did an incredibly good job.
“But I guess there’s always an element of uncertainty in the back of your mind, knowing that maybe if there was someone else in this car you could have been able to earn a little more.
“From a personal perspective, it was a great validation weekend to say that we’ve probably been doing a very good job at Williams this year.”
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