George Russell has claimed that he has ‘no concerns’ about who may be selected to become his next Mercedes team-mate, adding that he ‘wants to be tested against the best’ after sharing the past two years with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton looked set to end his glittering career as a Mercedes driver after joining Russell in committing to a new two-year contract extension last season, but in a bombshell move in early February, the legendary Brit opted to activate an exit clause in his terms and join rivals Ferrari for the 2025 season and beyond.
This has left Mercedes with a gap to fill alongside Russell from next season and with teenage starlet Kimi Antonelli unlikely to be ready to make the giant leap up off the back of a rookie Formula Two campaign, the battle for Hamilton’s seat remains wide open.
Offering his thoughts on the matter during pre-season testing in Bahrain, Russell noted: “I’ve got no concerns at all who lines up alongside me. I want to be tested against the very best and I feel that’s what I’ve had the last two years.”
Pressed for specific names, the 26-year-old later added: “Ultimately the decision is with Toto and the board. We’ve already had conversations and I’ve been with Toto a lot this winter, so seeing the drivers’ names pop up on the telephone has been quite funny.
“Even on my phone as well, I’ve had a few phone calls and text messages so it’s been quite interesting. As a team, we’ve got a good opportunity and we’re in a really good position to go into this next chapter, [after] there’s been so much success with Lewis and Mercedes.”
In the meantime, Russell and Hamilton have one season remaining as team-mates, and the former felt positive about the steps Mercedes have taken over the winter in their development of the W15.
Commenting on a promising start to testing, Russell explained: “The car last year was really challenging to drive. Lewis and I had no confidence in it, it felt like it was going to bite us every single corner. We can attack the medium and high-speed corners without the rear end snapping out.
“And we feel like we’ve made a really good step in terms of the consistency of the car. We can really lean on it better than we’ve been able to in the past. And this was a huge focus throughout last year. We saw many flaws with the W14, which the team have done a really great job to rectify.”