‘I Have My Faith in Them’- Russell Intent on Sticking With Mercedes for 2022

George Russell has been earmarked as a Mercedes driver in waiting for quite a while now. With Russell’s contract at Williams ending at the end of 2021, the Briton would want to make the jump to drive for a much more competitive team, or rather, Mercedes themselves. However, F1 is a fickle sport, nothing can be guaranteed. As such, is the Williams man looking outside the Silver Arrows universe for a seat in 2022? Russell doesn’t think so.

Speaking at the drivers’ press conference in Imola, Russell opened up about the mutual relationship between himself and Mercedes. With the Brackley-based team having been so generous to him and he himself repaying their faith with a number of impressive performances, Russell doesn’t have any intentions of severing his ties with the German team any time soon.

He said, “Mercedes has been loyal to me since day 1. So that is not even crossing my mind at the moment. They have their faith in me, I have my faith in them. Time will tell.

“It has been clear since 2016, when I signed for Mercedes, ‘do the job on the track, and the opportunities will come.’ So yeah, let’s wait and see, that thought hasn’t even crossed my mind.”

George Russell would want to seal his Mercedes seat with strong performances in 2021

Irrespective of whether his teammate will be Bottas or Hamilton, whom he quashed a certain rumor about, Russell definitely appears to be in pole position for the Silver Arrows drive next year. However, there is a lot that can change from now until the end of the season.

George would do well to remember that Esteban Ocon was in his position not too long ago. In fact, he was all set to be a Mercedes driver until Valtteri Bottas had a great year in 2018, thus holding onto his seat for 2019.

Therefore, Russell would need to remind Mercedes time and again that he is the man for the job. How can he do that? For starters, he’ll need to keep getting the Williams car out of Q1, just as he did last year.

He’d also like to go a few steps further and score his first F1 points with the Grove-based team. If he can manage that, he’d have done all that is possible from his side to bag the Silver Arrows seat. Then all he can do is wait for Mercedes’ decision.

Also Read: George Russell Reveals What’s Changed for Team After the Departure of Williams Family from F1