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Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff believes it would be “a wild ride” if George Russell teamed up with Lewis Hamilton in the future.
Russell’s stellar performance during his debut weekend with the team has prompted suggestions that he will be awarded the seat permanently starting in 2022, when Mercedes junior’s contract with Williams expires late next year.
Russell certainly put Valtteri Bottas in the shadows to such an extent that Wolff was asked if there was any way he could lead the 22-year-old into W12 for next year.
“He’s a Williams driver, he’s enrolled in Williams and our driver lineup is Valtteri and Lewis,” Wolff said. “So I don’t see this as a realistic situation at the moment.
“But I can understand that it would be an interesting situation to have them both on the team, and maybe a bit of a wild ride for all of us, but maybe we will have it in the future.”
After passing Bottas at turn one on the first lap, Russell controlled the race and should have won it had it not been for a mistake in the team’s pit stop that saw him exit on the Finn’s tires.
Despite a comeback from fifth place after that incident, he was denied a second chance to win as he suffered a slow puncture with nine laps remaining at a time when he had come within three seconds of the eventual winner of the race. , Sergio Pérez.
Russell at least finished ninth and claimed the fastest lap to collect his first F1 points, and while Wolff claimed “I’m sorry for George,” he was completely impressed by his performance over the weekend.
“We didn’t want to set high expectations and he overdelivered and overdelivered and overdelivered,” Wolff enthused.
“He outperformed on Friday, topped the leaderboard when he was a few hundredths [0.026s] Valtteri and overcame in the race.
“His race was incredible, he came off the starting line with the best reaction time in a car that was not made for him, that is too small with pedals that did not fit and he took the lead, he drove brilliantly the race and could have won twice.
“This is not a sad day. We learned that George Russell is someone to count on in the future. He has all the potential, all the ingredients that a star needs, a future star.”
“In that sense, I am saddened by the result he could have had in his first race with Mercedes, but from the other side, I am happy for his performances.”
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