George Russell’s hopes of changing into the highest canine at Mercedes when Lewis Hamilton leaves for the Ferrari might be wrecked if the crew adopts a “radical” method.
Hamilton turned the F1 driver market on its head by asserting he’ll drive for the legendary Italian crew from subsequent 12 months, with Carlos Sainz making manner. Sainz is a contender to take Hamilton’s spot at Mercedes.
The Silver Arrows may additionally flip to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon of Williams or Mercedes-backed driver Esteban Ocon, presently with Alpine. Teenage hotshot Kimi Antonelli, who has been dubbed the ‘next Max Verstappen’ by some, is one other contender.
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The younger Italian, a Mercedes junior driver, makes his Formula 2 debut this season and a powerful marketing campaign may seal his place on the F1 grid for 2025. With loads of choices at their disposal, the strain is on Russell, who had an underwhelming 2023 marketing campaign, to show he’s among the many sport’s elite.
F1 analyst and journalist Mark Gallagher reckons it’s a make-or-break couple of years for Russell. He instructed Betway: “Two years in the past, you’ll have mentioned unquestionably that George Russell might be elevated to the primary drive when Lewis leaves. But you one way or the other really feel there’s a query mark there now.
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“There is different expertise on the market, different individuals out there and one factor that can come from Toto Wolff is that he might be occupied with a whole lot of main change taking place inside the sport and so they have to be cautious about not making a conservative alternative for subsequent 12 months.
“It is extra seemingly that they may make a radical choice. The radical will both to be to herald a sizzling rookie, somebody who they may actually get behind.
(Image: MERCEDES/AFP by way of Getty Images)
“They will either do that or put one of the top talents into the car and do whatever it takes because Toto Wolff has no interest in spending two or three years working his way back into championship-winning form. He wants a driving line-up that can win titles every single year.”
Pre-season testing started in Bahrain on Wednesday with world champion Verstappen ominously setting the tempo, greater than a second away from the remainder of the sphere.