George Russell set to replace Lewis Hamilton this weekend
George Russell will drive for Mercedes in place of Lewis Hamilton, who has tested positive for coronavirus, in this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix.
Recently-crowned world champion Hamilton, 35, was ruled out of the penultimate round of the Formula One championship after contracting coronavirus this week.
‘Very few people are lucky enough to drive for an @F1 team each year and I’m about to get the chance to drive for two,’ said Englishman Russell, 22, on Twitter.
Russell’s career has been backed by Mercedes since 2017 and he is effectively on a three-year loan at Williams, for whom he raced in last Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
Lewis Halmilton earlier posted about missing the weekend’s race over Covid-19 Isolation Protocols.
See His Post below:
He added:
‘Unbelievably grateful to Williams and Mercedes for this opportunity.’
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said:
‘First and foremost, I wish to thank our loyal partners at Williams for their collaboration and open-mindedness in making it possible for George to race for Mercedes this weekend.
‘The conversations with the team at Williams were positive and pragmatic and those were the key factors in reaching an agreement.
‘It will not be a straightforward task for George to make the transition from the Williams to the W11, but he is race-ready and has detailed understanding of the 2020 tyres and how they perform on this generation of cars.
‘George has shown impressive form this year with Williams, playing an instrumental role in their climb up the grid, and I am optimistic that he will deliver a strong performance alongside Valtteri [Bottas], who will be a demanding reference for him.
George Russell set to replace Lewis Hamilton this weekend
6 Comments