Written by Aiden Hover, Edited by Esmée Koppius
As a member of the Mercedes young driver program, George Russell would have expected the call up to the main team at some point, however, this call could be arriving sooner than he first thought.
The Daily Mail has reported that an ‘anonymous Mercedes engineer’ has revealed that key team members within Mercedes are losing confidence in the Finnish driver. The engineer has also revealed that George Russell is the favourite to become Lewis Hamilton’s new teammate.
These rumours regarding Valtteri Bottas and George Russell are nothing new, but the most recent ‘leads’ regard the fact that after 5 seasons together, the Finn has won only 9 races whilst his 7x world champion teammate has won 44. This fact has supposedly shattered Bottas’ confidence and it is showing within his driving.
George Russell and Valtteri Bottas came together in Imola.
Last weekend in Portugal, despite achieving pole position, Bottas finished third behind Hamilton and championship rival, Max Verstappen, with this disappointing race creating “unrest in the factory.” The ‘anonymous Mercedes engineer’ reportedly went on to say, “he’s not up to it, which was made clearer by the job we saw Russell do in Bahrain.”
As always with rumours, everything is to be taken with a pinch of salt – particularly when they arise from an ‘anonymous Mercedes engineer’ talking to the Daily Mail. The decision of course rests with Toto Wolff who has been nothing but supportive of Bottas throughout his 5 years with the German manufacturer.
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