How Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris & Others Reacted to George Russell’s Move to Mercedes F1 for 2022

Earlier today, Mercedes put an end to a season-long saga as they confirmed their driver lineup for the 2022 season. Ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, they revealed George Russell as their second driver to complete their first-ever all-British lineup.

After the announcement, social media went wild as many took to various platforms to congratulate the Briton for his achievement.

George Russell receives well wishes from drivers and other popular figures on social media

Since the start of the season, Mercedes found themselves in the spotlight regarding their driver situation. Although they extended Lewis Hamilton’s contract during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, they needed to confirm their second driver to end the suspense completely.

After Valtteri Bottas announced he would join Alfa Romeo yesterday, the Silver Arrows confirmed Russell as Hamilton’s teammate for 2022. While this ends months of speculation, a few current and former F1 drivers congratulated the 23-year-old on his latest Instagram post.

Among those comments featured Lando Norris, who joined Formula 1 with Russell in 2019. He admitted he looked forward to their battles in the future. “So happy for you mate,” wrote Norris. “Hope to have many more battles together and for many more years. So deserved. Congrats.”

Fabio Quartararo, who is leading the 2021 MotoGP season, wrote a simple comment to congratulate the Briton. “Congrats man,” wrote the Frenchman. Meanwhile, 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill also sent his well wishes by complimenting Russell’s smile in the photo. Hill wrote, “It will be a while before that smile disappears from your face!”

Russell is quite the popular figure in the UK, which showed from the plethora of comments he received from British celebrities. Former Manchester City center-back Joleon Lescott is an example of this, who congratulated him with a high-five emoji. Former Red Bull driver David Coulthard also joined the congratulatory bandwagon, quoting George from an earlier F1 video by writing, “FACTS.”

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Lewis Hamilton and Nicholas Latifi share posts on Instagram

While Latifi commented on Russell’s post, he also shared a post of his own on Instagram. In the post, the Canadian initially joked with the Briton, before admitting how much he enjoyed spending two seasons as his teammate.

Meanwhile, Hamilton shared a post of his own to welcome Russell, who’s 13 years younger than him, to the team. He also appreciated the hard work put in by the Williams driver, who first met Hamilton as a young kid.

While the future looks bright for Russell, nine races remain in this season before he makes the move to the Silver Arrows. Can the 23-year-old score more points in an improving Williams team to solidify his credentials?

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