George Russell will race for Mercedes next year after signing a long term contract with the Formula 1 giants
Mercedes officially confirmed the signing of George Russell from Williams Racing Team. The 23-year old Brit will be racing alongside Lewis Hamilton from the 2022 F1 season onwards.
The man from King’s Lynn had been a part of Williams since the 2019 Formula 1 season. Till date, he has accumulated a total of 16 points for Williams, with one podium finish, coming as recently as 2021 Belgium GP.
However, Russell has been a part of the Mercedes Young Driver Programme since 2017, and even raced once for the team during the 2020 season.
He came in as a stand-in driver at the 2020 Sakhir GP, after Hamilton had tested positive for the coronavirus. Stunningly, the Brit led the race for quite a long time before a tyre mix-up from Mercedes and a late puncture caused him to finish 9th.
His move to Mercedes shouldn’t come as a big surprise as he was destined to go there. Hamilton’s current teammate Valtteri Bottas will be heading to Alfa Romeo next year, filling in for the retiring Kimi Raikkonen.
Mercedes Twitter wrote, after Russell put pen to paper:
“@GeorgeRussell63 will race for the Team alongside @LewisHamilton from the 2022 F1 season!”
Twitter reacts to George Russell signing long-term Mercedes contract
The Twitterati were excited about the signing of George Russell. While some were ecstatic about two Brit drivers sharing the track, a few were worried about the competition that might ensue between the pair.
Here are a few Twitter reactions:
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