Reports: Mercedes Set to Announce All British Hamilton-Russell F1 Lineup at Silverstone

It has been a rather quiet phase in F1 with not many rumors surrounding the Mercedes F1 team. However, it feels like the time has arrived to light up the speculative talks, with the latest one pointing towards the possible announcement of Mercedes’ driver-lineup for 2022.

For 5 straight seasons, the Brackley outfit have opted to stick with the combination of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. However, the latter’s performances have been surging downward since the start of the 2021 season despite his teammate contrastingly racing at the top, chasing after his 8th title.

And it wouldn’t be much of a shock if Mercedes decides to move on from Bottas and grasp onto much younger and championship material, George Russell. Rightfully so, the latest reports have claimed the same, with Mercedes set to announce an all British lineup for 2022.

When is Mercedes looking to make it public?

According to Formula Passion, Mercedes are waiting for the arrival of the classic British Grand Prix to reveal their decision. Since the Stuttgart outfit will be starring two British drivers in the line-up, bringing out the announcement in Silverstone could add more flavor to it.

British Journalist, Joe Saward, looked quite convinced that the probability of this scenario taking place is quite high. “Mercedes decisions may take a little longer to emerge,” he said. “And Silverstone seems the most obvious place for that. 

“For the time being, it looks like Lewis Hamilton will return, likely with another one-year contract, in 2022. And speculation about who will take the other Mercedes is in the public domain. I have a feeling there could be big celebrations during the British GP weekend,” Saward wrote in his personal blog.

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Bottas or Russell: A tough decision for the Brackley outfit?

This is definitely a difficult decision to make for Mercedes, considering Bottas has always been an incredible team player. Moreover, the Finn has occasionally had terrible luck on the track, which ultimately blew his chances of tagging along with Hamilton in championship fights.

Hence, one might empathize with Bottas, who almost stands no chance of surviving in F1 despite racing for Mercedes over 5 consecutive seasons.

Meanwhile, there’s Russell, a driver oozing with talent and it would be criminal to see him spending most of his prime at Williams. The defending champions would want to rope in the Briton considering Red Bull, too, have found a challenging enough second driver in Sergio Perez.

Hence, will the rumor turn out to be true in reality? Could this be the final F1 season for the 9-time Grand Prix winner, Bottas? Well, we’ll know in time.

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