Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has admitted that he would be “surprised” if Mercedes dropped Valtteri Bottas and replaced him with George Russell before the end of the season.
It has been reported that Bottas, who is already 37 points behind teammate Lewis Hamilton after just three laps, could be relieved of his duties by the Silver Arrows.
The 31-year-old Finn started in his fifth season with the world champion at the Grand Prix of Portugal last weekend in pole position, but fell back to third place.
Russell, 23, is waiting in the wings after excelling at the Sakhir GP in December as a replacement for a Covid-hit Hamilton. Without a bad Mercedes pit stop and a late flat tire, he would have won and beaten Bottas.
Russell, a junior driver for the Silver Arrows, continues to impress at Williams and qualified 11th on his uncompetitive machinery at Portimao.
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But Red Bull boss Horner, whose team has a track record of driver swaps in the off-season, doesn’t think Mercedes will adopt their blueprint.
“Valtteri has shown that he can drive the car very quickly,” he said. “Circumstances will always happen so let’s see how things go, but Valtteri has done a great job for Mercedes over the past few years.
“I would be surprised if they switched between Valtteri and George around the middle of the season.”
It could well be in Horner’s interest that Bottas stays with Mercedes in view of his struggles.
Red Bull is just 18 points behind the Silver Arrows in the constructors’ championship, while Max Verstappen is just eight points behind Hamilton ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix this week.
According to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, Bottas, who was canceled after a meeting with Russell in Imola, has the full support of the conquering team on the starting grid.
The Austrian said: “Valtteri will be in top form. Given where he came from to follow Imola, which was a write-off, he put her on pole position in Portugal and had a solid race.
“We’ll push him hard, keep supporting him and see what he can do in Barcelona.”
PA
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