George Russell "would like to stay" with Williams if Mercedes pick Bottas

Russell in Hungary — Photo: © LAT Images

Williams

Russell "would like to stay" with Williams if Mercedes pick Bottas

Russell is in line for a move to Mercedes

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Friday 20 August 2021 18:00

Williams CEO and team principal Jost Capito has insisted George Russell would like to remain with the team if Valtteri Bottas is preferred to partner Lewis Hamilton next year.

Russell is under consideration to take over from Bottas at the championship-leading team for 2022, with a decision expected to be made ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

The British driver has helped drive Williams forward alongside team-mate Nicholas Latifi, excelling in qualifying and scoring his first points with the team at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

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Asked if he was resigned to losing Russell at the end of the year, Capito told GPFans Global: "For us, it's not even worthwhile thinking about it because that is a Mercedes decision. If they take him, they take him. If not, he will stay.

"At the moment, he would like to stay if he doesn't get the Mercedes call because he likes the team. He sees how it's going forward. If he doesn't go to Mercedes, we'll be more than happy to keep him, of course.

"But there's nothing that we can do now. We're just focusing on the season, race-by-race and go from there.

"It's massively impressive how George handles the situation. He doesn't get taken away by 'Do I have to wait? When is the call? Do I have to get it? Do I not get it?' He is so cool on that and focused on what he has to do for Williams. This is really very impressive."

If Russell does leave for Mercedes there have been rumours that the Silver Arrows' Formula E drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and champion Nyck de Vries could be in the running for the vacant Williams seat.

On whether any contact had been made between the team and potential drivers, Capito replied: "Not me speaking to others. Quite a lot of drivers have contacted me and I explain to them the situation.

"At the moment there's nothing more to discuss because I can't sign up any driver.

"We can't make any decision as long there is a chance to keep George. It's very simple. The George situation has to be solved and then we can react."