Newcomer George Russell downplays the importance of standing in for Lewis Hamilton


Newcomer George Russell downplays the importance of standing in for Lewis Hamilton

Lewis and George

George Russell has been chosen as the new driver for Mercedes in the 2022 Formula1 season and is going to be driving alongside the former 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. George took the place of Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes who is going to turn up for Alfa Romeo during the 2022 Formula1 season.

It has been stated in Formula1news that George Russel does not believe that his one-off appearance for Mercedes in 2020 convinced Team Principal Toto Wolff of his capabilities.

George Russell
George Russell

Lewis Hamilton tested positive for Covid-19 before the Sakhir Grand Prix having won the previous race at the same venue. In a bid to look for replacements for the race, Mercedes first approached the 2016 Formula1 champion Nico Rosberg who has recently admitted to this fact.

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However, they finally decided to put the then Williams driver George Russell into the seat who was on a 36 race run of out-qualifying his teammates Robert Kubica and Nicholas Latifi.

George Russell
George Russell

The young brit during the qualifying session for the Sakhir Grand Prix was able to finish in P2 just behind his teammate Valtteri Bottas. The team was able to lock out the front row in an impressive qualifying session for Mercedes.

On race day George was at his best as during the first lap George was able to overtake the experienced Valtteri Bottas and twice during the race was looking all set to win the first Grand Prix of his career.

However, a tire mix-up at a pit stop followed by a slow puncture resulted in a heart-breaking ninth-placed finish.

Although Russell was not able to get on the podium, one thing that he was able to do was showcase his tremendous ability in a title-challenging car and was able to garner a lot of praise for his exploits during the Sakhir Grand Prix from fans and the pundits of the sport.

George Russell
George Russell

George Russel was able to score his first points for Williams in 2021 and was also able to score a podium in the treacherous conditions of Spa. This was enough proof for Toto Wolff and Mercedes to promote him to the Mercedes team for the 2022 Formula1 season in place of Valtteri Bottas.

Russell has recently admitted that his performance in the Sakhir Grand Prix of 2020 proved a lot of people wrong who were skeptical of the young brit’s ability.

While talking about it George has said “I guess Bahrain was the key moment that if there were any doubters, the doubts were gone.”

George Russell believes Toto Wolff followed his career very closely

Toto Wolff
Toto Wolff

He is grateful to Toto for seeing him as worthy of replacing Lewis for the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix and has stressed that it is the Austrian who decides if he is ready for a new challenge or not.

While talking about Toto Russell has said, “He believed in me and he had faith in me, even though I was finishing last every single weekend. So for me obviously potentially proved a point to so many others but at the end of the day, it’s Toto who makes the decision.”

George believes that his performance in the Sakhir Grand Prix was not the only deciding factor behind his promotion to Mercedes.

George Russell
George Russell

According to him, “Because he followed my career so closely, I guess he believed he knew what I was capable of.”

So that race probably didn’t change anything in his mind whatsoever, but to the outside world so many others may have thought ‘okay, it’s clear why he wants to go down that route.”

But I guess for everyone, that was a stand-out race and a pretty crazy one when I look back at it.”

while talking about signing for Mercedes, Russell has said that he is excited to showcase his talents alongside the former 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

It’s an amazing opportunity to again progress myself as a driver and see how I fare.”

George Russell
George Russell

During his career at Williams, George Russell out-qualified his teammates 57 times in 59 races and his place at Williams has been taken by the former RedBull driver Alex Albon for the 2022 Formula1 season. Williams has retained Nicholas Latifi for another year.

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