After being loaned to Williams by Mercedes for three seasons, Russell will finally step up to the Brackley outfit in 2022, replacing Valtteri Bottas as Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate on the factory team.
Since the deal was announced in September, Russell has had a lot of questions about his upcoming move, but the Brit says it would be “unprofessional” to think ahead while his current team is still embroiled in a tense battle for eighth in this year’s Constructors’ Championship .
“Of course I get a lot of questions about the Mercedes move next year, but I think it’s unprofessional if I start too fast or too early,” said Russell when asked if his Mercedes move was already on his mind may be.
“This season and the remaining races I am giving more power than ever before.”
George Russell, Williams FW43B, Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo Racing C41
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
After leaving Alfa Romeo behind in the first half of the season, Williams was clear in Hungary thanks to a double top eight finish for Russell and team-mate Nicholas Latifi.
This groundbreaking weekend was followed by Russell’s first podium finish after the summer break in a rainy Belgian Grand Prix, where only half points were awarded and Russell scored nine points.
But thanks to two eighth places for Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa has reduced the gap to 12 points, which is 23 to 11, which means that the battle with Williams is wide open again with four grand prix left in the 2021 season.
“I want to make sure we seal that P8 in the championship, but obviously Alfa has now taken four more points,” added Russell after finishing 16th in Mexico.
“I don’t know what happened to Antonio [Giovinazzi] since they were both in the points at the same time. That is our goal now, to try to score even more and try to stop them from earning points. ”
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