Former Formula 1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner has responded to suggestions that George Russell could become Mercedes ‘next Valtteri Bottas’.
The Brit currently sits second in the Drivers’ standings, 59 points behind teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has taken the sport by storm in his second season.
Russell entered the season as the early title favourite, and appeared to set the tone with a opening-race victory in Australia.
But Antonelli’s subsequent blistering run of form saw him take the ascendancy, scoring six wins to Russell’s two, the second of which being earned in Austria.
Russell has suffered his fair share of bad luck, but has also seemingly struggled to consistently get to grips with the German marque‘s W17 challenger, something Antonelli has become acustomed to with more ease.
The #63’s tenure with Mercedes has largely been a successful one, having outscored former teammate Lewis Hamilton twice in the three seasons they were paired together.
Those three seasons were a long way away from Hamilton’s previous partnership with Bottas, who was often seen as the dutiful No. 2 to the seven-time World Champion.
And speaking on the Red Flags Podcast, Steiner, when asked if Russell could become the ‘next Bottas’, was inclined to believe it could be the case.
“That’s a tough question. Let’s see how he reacts,” he said. “It looks like it. I don’t know if he’s or not, but it looks like it – it really looks like it.”
George Russell has F1 future in his own hands, says Steiner
Steiner did, however, claim that Russell may hold such lofty ambitions that he could consider a future away from the Silver Arrows, should Antonelli win the title and set a trend of forthcoming dominance.
“But it’s in his own control as well,” the former Haas boss added. “Valtteri obviously was happy to be that because he stayed there forever.
|”If George is not happy with that, he needs to find something else to do. It’s not easy to find something else to do, because there’s no seats for next year, but 2028, maybe.
“Maybe George says, ‘I do not want to be the next Valtteri Bottas and here for 10 years finishing second the rest of my life. I need to go somewhere else’.
“But that’s down to him, not to Mercedes, to decide.”
Russell certainly produced more of his usual form in Zandvoort, taking victory in the Sprint Race, and followed it up with third in the Grand Prix, allowing Antonelli through into second due to a team arrangement.
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