Russell's future up in the air: "They are in control of my destiny"

Now that Mercedes have confirmed Lewis Hamilton will remain at the team for at least another two years, the focus shifts entirely onto the second seat. It seems to be a straight shootout between current Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas and upcoming star George Russell. If Russell loses out to Bottas, Russell rules out a move to a different team. 

With an underperforming Williams, Russell has been forced to show his hand whilst parked at the back of the grid over the last three seasons. The British driver made a brief appearance in the Mercedes car in Bahrain and performed well despite not getting the result he was after. 

During the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Russell made his first Q3 appearance since that race for Mercedes, and it was his first as a Williams driver who use the Mercedes engine. In the race, the 23-year-old fell backwards and missed out on the points following a Fernando Alonso overtake with four laps remaining. Though Russell is keen to bounce further up the grid next season.

Loyal to Mercedes

"I want to be fighting for victories and the world championship. I've worked so hard to get into F1, I didn't work that hard to fight for P15. I am doing my best week in week out," Russell told Sky Sports. 

Since his teenage years, Russell has been a junior driver for Mercedes. Toto Wolff and the rest of his team have been supportive of Russell, and the driver is keen on paying back this support with loyalty to Mercedes. The seven-time World Champions have many negatives and positives to weigh up between their two driver options over the weeks and months in the contract discussions, and this could leave Russell with the Mercedes powered Williams. 

"I am constantly in communication with Mercedes, they've looked after me. They are in control of my destiny wherever that may be. They've always said, if I did a job I'll be rewarded. I'll have a Mercedes engine in the back of my car next year no matter what. I'm loyal to Mercedes," Russell added. 

Had the deal with Mercedes' second seat not worked out for Russell, he may well have looked elsewhere to move further up the grid. But this now looks out of the picture, with the other Mercedes customer teams holding contracted drivers for 2022.