Sunday 29th August 2021
Who’s driving next to Hamilton?
Mercedes-Duo stands for next season
Formula 1 dominator Mercedes has completed its personnel planning for the coming season. It is now clear who will score points together with record world champion Lewis Hamilton in the future. They don’t want to reveal anything yet, but there is a clear tendency.
The Formula 1 team Mercedes has made a decision on its outstanding driver question from the coming season. This was confirmed by Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, the TV broadcaster Sky and added: “That will be announced at the right time.” The Swedish top manager did not mention any names or a specific point in time. According to international media reports, however, it is already certain that the Briton George Russell will replace the Finn Valtteri Bottas from 2022 and become the new teammate of world champion Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton has a contract with Mercedes until the end of 2023.
Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff had already indicated a decision on Saturday in the paddock on the sidelines of the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps. Källenius, who was also at the racetrack himself, has now confirmed this. Wolff explained that all parties involved had to be considered before an announcement was made. What exactly he meant by that, the Austrian left open.
If Russell gets to the Silver Arrows, his cockpit at Williams would be free, and the 31-year-old Vice World Champion Bottas would need a new seat for the coming season. Neither driver had made any specific statements about their future in the run-up to the race. “There is nothing to announce. Not this weekend and probably not the next either, to be honest,” said the 23-year-old Russell, who is still under contract with Williams until the end of the year. Internally, the situation is already being dealt with openly, said Wolff at Sky.
By its own standards, Mercedes got through with personnel planning astonishingly early: Before the current season, a month-long stalemate in the contract negotiations with top star Lewis Hamilton caused nervousness. In the end, the Briton signed his new working paper. In February, a few days before the first test drives.
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