• Williams driver replaces departing Bottas, Mercedes to have all-British line-up in 2022

George Russell will replace Valtteri Bottas and race for Mercedes next season in an all-British line-up with seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One team said yesterday.
The news was entirely expected and effectively confirmed when Bottas, 32, announced on Monday his switch to the Alfa Romeo team.
Russell, who is in his third season at Williams, will be Hamilton’s first new teammate since Bottas also joined from Williams in 2017 to take the place of retired 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg. Mercedes have won the last seven drivers’ and constructors’ championships and are leading the current team standings after 13 races, although Hamilton is three points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Hamilton, 36, has a contract for 2022 and 2023. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t absolutely buzzing. It’s a huge opportunity and one I want to grab with both hands,” said Russell, 23.
“But I’m under no illusions as to the scale of the challenge; it’s going to be a steep learning curve.
“I’ve looked up to Lewis since I was in go-karts and the opportunity to learn from someone who has become a role model both on and off track can only benefit me as a driver, a professional, and a human being,” added the 2018 Formula Two champion.
The youngster has already raced once for Mercedes, a stand-out performance at last December’s Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain when Hamilton tested positive for Covid-19 and was unable to start.
Russell qualified on the front row and led from the start but finished ninth after the team made a mess of the pitstop and he then suffered a late puncture after an impressive fight back through the field that also brought him the fastest lap.
He scored his first points for Williams this season, again catching the eye with a sensational qualifying performance in the wet in Belgium to put his uncompetitive car on the front row.
He took second place in that ‘race’ in Spa that ended after a couple of laps behind the safety car. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the decision to replace Bottas had nonetheless not been an easy process or a straightforward decision.
The Finn was strongly backed by Hamilton, who has had a relatively easy time over their years together and has won the last four titles, but Russell is managed by Mercedes and has long been seen as the face of the team’s future.
“He has been a winner in every racing category – and the past three seasons with Williams have given us a taste of what the future could hold for him in F1,” said Wolff. “Now, it is our challenge together to help him continue learning within our environment and alongside Lewis, the greatest F1 driver of all time. I am confident that as their relationship grows, they will form a strong team and deliver for Mercedes on and off the track in the years ahead.” Russell’s departure leaves Mercedes-powered Williams with a seat to fill. Red Bull-backed Thai racer Alexander Albon and Mercedes-contracted Formula E champion Nyck de Vries are vying for the drive, with a possible opening also alongside Bottas at Alfa Romeo.

Russell joins rise of the young guns to top of F1

George Russell’s move to Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate next year, announced yesterday, means every one of Formula One’s top teams will have a bright young star in its driver lineup. Russell is only 23, the same age as Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, and with a similar talent that ultimately Mercedes could put on hold no longer.
In 50 races for Williams, he has out-qualified his teammate 50 times. He has put the eighth-ranked team on the front row of the grid and onto the podium, albeit with second place in a “race” without overtaking in Belgium.
“The past three seasons with Williams have given us a taste of what the future could hold for him in F1,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff of a driver 13 years younger than seven-times world champion Hamilton.
Fellow Briton Lando Norris, pushing hard in his third full season at McLaren, is 21 while Alpine’s French driver Esteban Ocon is 24. Verstappen, Leclerc and Ocon are grand prix winners – 17 times in the case of the Red Bull driver’s meteoric rise – and it surely will not be long before Russell steps up to join them.
“It’s certainly very positive,” said Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto of what looks like a golden period ahead as the sport enters a new era with rule changes aimed at making racing closer.
“There are a lot of young drivers who are doing really very, very well...this may be the best time now for young drivers that we’ve had in F1.”
McLaren Racing’s chief executive Zak Brown, speaking at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, said the sport was in a “mega exciting” place.
“All the big teams are going to have their young driver and I’m very bullish on Formula One’s future, I’m excited for the new car, I think the cost cap is working,” he added. “Led by these superstar drivers with the big teams I think it’s going to be massively exciting, the next decade of Formula One.”
Formula One still has three multiple world champions in Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel but the future is here and hungry.
“It’s so important to get yourself in a top team as a young driver early on, so you can show what you can do,” said Britain’s 1996 world champion Damon Hill on Sky Sports television.
The rise has been long-awaited, with Russell and Norris rivals in Formula Two in 2018 after Leclerc won the title in 2017, while Verstappen and Ocon competed against each other in European Formula Three.
“I remember meeting him when he was young, dreaming of one day being a Formula One driver,” said Hamilton of Russell after the announcement.
“He is a great example to all the kids out there that dreams do come true when you chase them wholeheartedly. Through hard work he has rightly earned his spot on our team.” (Reuters)