George Russell set to complete much-anticipated move to Mercedes this week and form all-British partnership with Lewis Hamilton – with Valtteri Bottas switching to Alfa Romeo
- George Russell’s long-awaited move to Mercedes is to be confirmed this week
- The 23-year-old will join F1 champion Lewis Hamilton in an all-British pairing
- Hamilton’s current partner, Valtteri Bottas, is set to move to Alfa Romeo
George Russell’s long-awaited move to join Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes is set to be confirmed this week.
As Sportsmail revealed on Thursday, Toto Wolff has decided to draft in the 23-year-old Englishman to replace Valtteri Bottas, who will be unveiled as an Alfa Romeo driver as early as Monday.
Russell’s switch to Mercedes will be announced soon afterwards. All parties want the news out before the weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
George Russell is set to make his long-awaited move to Mercedes from Williams this week
Russell, 23, is set to form an all-British partnership at Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton
The change reveals that Wolff is preparing for life after Hamilton, who turns 37 in January and was urging his boss to stick with the usually compliant Bottas.
Speaking on Sky Sports yesterday, Mercedes’ 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg repeated a rumour that Netflix have filmed Russell signing his new deal.
Ironically, Bottas defied an order from the pit wall to pull out of his fastest lap attempt so as not to beat Hamilton’s existing time in the closing stages of the Dutch Grand Prix.
With Russell’s arrival, Valtteri Bottas is set to be unveiled as an Alfa Romeo driver this week
Hamilton ultimately regained his superiority so the harm to team harmony was contained.
Wolff said: ‘It was a bit cheeky but understandable. Valtteri is always on the receiving end. Lewis scored the point and it is all good. If he’d lost it, it would not have been right.’