“Maybe that will happen in the future,” Toto Wolff on a potential Hamilton-Russell lineup for Mercedes

“Maybe that will happen in the future,” Toto Wolff on a potential Hamilton-Russell lineup for Mercedes

George Russell, Lewis Hamilton

George Russell, Lewis Hamilton

George Russell was drafted in to drive for Mercedes at the Sakhir Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton tested positive for the coroanvirus last week, stepping up from his regular seat at Williams.Russell finished second in the qualifying behind his Mercedes team mate, Valtteri Bottas and was on course to get his first podium on Sunday.

The Brit started off in an extraordinary fashion, going into the lead in the opening lap. A pit-stop mix later in the race would hamper his chances of winning the race as he slipped to the fifth position. However, with the fresh set of tyres, Russell quickly climbed back to the second place, and just two seconds off Sergio Perez. A late puncture led to Russell going into a pit stop once again and he ended up finishing only ninth.

Mercedes CEO, Toto Wolff spoke about Russell’s race and applauded the young driver for his performance and also said that he had not made up his mind on what this race means for the future of Mercedes. “George has always been a Mercedes driver, and he’s a Williams driver now, and I think they can be proud of what he’s done today,” Wolff said.”They will know that his lap times in a Williams are probably the benchmark.

FS Video

To be honest, I haven’t made up my mind what that means for us: Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff said that it was not a realistic situation to consider Hamilton and Russell racing together for Mercedes, but he admitted that in the future it is quite a possibility. “He’s a Williams driver, he signed up to Williams and our driver line-up is Valtteri and Lewis,” Wolff said. “So I don’t see this as a realistic situation at that moment of time.”

“But I can understand that it would be an interesting situation to have been both in the team and maybe a bit of a wild ride for all of us. Maybe that will happen in the future,” said Wolff. He also stated that despite none of the Mercedes drivers ending up on the podium, it was not a sad day as Russell’s potential was discovered during the weekend.

“This is not a sad day,” Wolff said. “This is a day where we learn as a team, when we are in a tough fight about a championship, I wouldn’t want the radio to fail. And we learned that George Russell is somebody to count on in the future. He has all the potential and all the ingredients that a star needs, a future star needs,” he added.

Also Read: Mick Schumacher wins the F2 Title after a thrilling season finale