Has Russell already signed for Mercedes? "We'll leave it there"

With Lewis Hamilton announcing his contract extension on Saturday morning, more of the focus is shifted towards the second Mercedes seat. George Russell and Valtteri Bottas are in a straight fight for the second seat alongside the seven-time World Champion. 

The Ziggo Sport reporter senses that George Russell has already signed a contract with Mercedes next year. "I think your head is so clear, that you already have a good deal for the future," asked the Dutch reporter. A smile appeared on Russell's race and he said "we'll leave it there" as he walked away. 

Hmmm #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/1ooegf5RpN

— sanganchao (@waatitdobaby) July 3, 2021

A strong day for Russell

In his three years as a Formula 1 driver, Russell has been parked at the back with an underperforming Williams car. During qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, Russell reached Q3 for the first time as a driver for Williams. It was therefore a strong day for the Brit. 

"Q3 is any circumstances is massive for us. I've not been this pumped up since my last win. This is the difficulty because we believe the soft tyre will be a disaster tomorrow. So we thought the worst thing would be to get through to Q3 on the softs. We should be starting P8. We have the AlphaTauri on the softs, maybe they know something we don't on the tyres," Russell told Ziggo Sport.