Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes Williams should make a bold decision over which driver it chooses to partner Lance Stroll next season.
Williams are currently evaluating a number of candidates including Robert Kubica and Sergey Sirotkin, although the latter is believed to be the firm favourite following the Abu Dhabi tyre test, where both tested for the team.
Wolff, a former shareholder in the team, reckons Williams should take a chance on a rising star rather than chasing a driver with funding, although he admitted the team's position made that difficult.
"If I were Williams today I would be bold and would put a George Russell or a Lando Norris in the car or a [Charles] Leclerc," Wolff told the BBC.
"One of these really bright talented kids who have won championships in the past to develop the next superstar.
"But having said that there is a financial reality they live in and they have to find the right compromise."
Meanwhile Wolff said he was more than happy with his current pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, but admitted to keeping an eye out for any developments in the driver market should things not work out in 2018.
"In so far as I would like the pairing to continue, we are committed to both of them in 2018, but having said that 2019 is a very exciting new year.
"There are young drivers that will have gained more experience and some of the very good ones like Daniel [Ricciardo] become free.
"What we want to see is how the first third of the season pans out, whether our car is good enough and strong enough. This is what we are actually concentrating on and then we will analyse and then take the right decisions hopefully."
Discussion about this post