F1 Managing Director of Motorsport Ross Brawn has given his verdict on who should join Mercedes to partner Lewis Hamilton next season.
The current decision between Mercedes is to decide between George Russell and Valtteri Bottas. Russell had a spectacular weekend in Belgium, securing his first podium in F1. He is heavily linked with a move to Mercedes, putting further heat on the situation. ‘
Brawn is of the opinion that the decision is way easier than most people make it out to be, and has given his verdict on who should join Mercedes.
“We all know George Russell has a fantastic talent. We have seen it a lot at Williams, and we saw it amplified at Mercedes when he stood in for Lewis Hamilton at the Sakhir Grand Prix last year,” Brawn wrote in his column.
“George’s performance reminded me a lot of Fernando Alonso when he drove at a wet Spa for Minardi in 2001. He was mighty impressive in a car that clearly was not up to the job.
“He doesn’t have a front row car, but in those tricky conditions in qualifying, he trounced people with far better cars than he had. In my view, there is only one decision for Mercedes next year with regards the second seat,” he said.
Phenomenal shift
Brawn’s endorsement is huge in this transfer saga. Bottas still has a chance to stay at Mercedes for another year. However, Russell is in the wings, and is the logical choice to look towards the future.
When asked about his P2 and whether it was a good weekend for him, Russell said, “Absolutely. Obviously not the way I’d have liked to have scored my first podium.
“A little bit of a strange feeling achieving it in this way but at the end of the day we’ve been rewarded for such a fantastic job yesterday (in qualifying).”