F1 | Mercedes, Wolff: "Russell important for us, but not with a view to 2021"

The Mercedes driver line-up for 2021 has never really been in question, although there have been many rumors of Vettel or Russell on one of the two Silver (now Black) Arrows next year. In the end, the German is negotiating with Aston Martin and Red Bull, while the Briton has been confirmed by Williams for the natural continuation of his contract. For this reason, Hamilton and Bottas will be teammates again next year, all that is missing is the official announcement. It was said that Russell's failure to arrive made the English driver feel a little bad, as he evidently strongly believed in getting into the world champion car as early as 2021, but this is not a rejection of him.

“George is very important for us, but not with a view to 2021 – said Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal crash.net. We are very happy with our line-up: Valtteri and Lewis get along very well with each other, and this is important for the dynamics within the team and the engineers really appreciate their feedback. We always think in the long term: we know George, we knew what we were doing two years ago. Williams gave him the opportunity to make his debut in Formula 1, and for that we respect their every decision. He has a three-year contract with them, it will expire next year and Claire has clearly said that he is an important resource for the team, and therefore the contractual situation must be respected. This does not mean that if George had been free, then he would definitely have occupied a seat in the Mercedes. Valtteri and Lewis are our drivers today and loyalty is something very important to us."