George Russell hopeful of F1 seat after Leclerc performances

Mercedes junior driver George Russell hopes that Charles Leclerc's impressive performances as a rookie this year in Formula One will open the floodgates and make it less difficult for young drivers to break into the sport.

Leclerc has been the talk of the paddock as of late, with impressive points-scoring performances now becoming a regular occurrence for the Monegasque driver. Russell is hopeful that more teams will be willing to take a chance on a young driver after seeing Leclerc adjust to F1 so well.

"I think times are changing slightly, you have the likes of Verstappen, Ocon and Leclerc going into F1," he told Autosport. "These guys can come in and challenge the experienced drivers in the field.

"I think what Charles is doing now is a great example of how competitive some junior series are. He won GP3 and then F2, and I won GP3 last year and currently leading F2.

"From my personal selling point of view lets say, there's a very good example in Charles to show what he's capable of and what we're doing this year."

Russell also stated that he would feel comfortable filling in any seat that might become available this weekend at Silverstone, citing his countless hours in the Mercedes simulator.

"If an opportunity arose with anybody at Silverstone this weekend, I'd feel ready, prepared. I've done extensive simulator work with Mercedes over the past two years really.

"I've done a number of days testing now with Mercedes and Force India and I feel confident that I can live up to the challenge.

"I know they believe there is potential with me or they wouldn't have taken me on as a junior driver otherwise. I think they believe in me."