George Russell is the obvious choice for Mercedes, says Ross Brawn

George Russell is the obvious choice for Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 partner next year after Williams, according to former team boss Ross Brawn.

“I think Mercedes will only have one decision next year for the second seat,” Brawn, now CEO of Formula 1 Motorsports, wrote in a column on formula1.com.

The 23-year-old Briton stood out in the qualifiers at Spa when he rose to the forefront of the Belgian Grand Prix for Williams, the team that scored its first points this month since 2019.

The 2018 Formula 2 champion appeared first on his podium, finishing second when the race was announced after three laps behind a safety car due to wet conditions and poor visibility.

Russell had already resigned from great qualifying performances in an otherwise uncompetitive car and seven times as world champion Hamilton’s deputy in Bahrain last season.

He is expected to replace Valtteri Bottas and the Finn has not worked for Mercedes. Team boss Toto Wolff said Sunday that a decision had been made.

“We all know that George Russell has fantastic talent. We’ve seen it a lot at Williams and seen it strengthened in Mercedes when he stepped in to represent Lewis Hamilton at the Sakhir GP last year,” Brawn said.

“George’s performance reminded me a lot of Fernando Alonso when he drove to the Minard Spa in 2001. He was awesome in an impressive car that was clearly not up to the task.

“Under these circumstances, the driver-car relationship is changing — and we saw it with George on Saturday. He doesn’t have a front-line car, but in these difficult conditions in the qualifier, he insulted people with much better cars than he was.”