Mercedes: 'Sakhir GP will not be a shootout between Russell and Bottas for 2022'

The 22-year-old Briton was summoned by the German factory team to replace the world champion. During the first two free practice sessions Russell already showed to have the right talents. In both practice sessions he was the fastest and thus finished ahead of 'teammate' Valtteri Bottas, although the Finn had some bad luck due to damage and a time removed. As Russell is part of the Mercedes Young Driver Programme, this is an excellent opportunity to see what he can do in a car capable of winning world championships.

He can also be compared to Bottas, to see how they can compete in the same car. Because of this, rumours started that this race weekend would be a shoot-out between the two drivers for a seat in 2022. But according to team boss Toto Wolff, none of this is true. "No, none of this is true. Besides, you can't call it a shoot-out when it's just one or two races. That doesn't give you nearly enough data," says the Austrian to Motorsport.com.

Confidence in Bottas

"If George is doing well, it is an indication that when he gets a good car in the future, he will compete for victories. But that is a long way off and he knows it. He just has to do his best, make no mistakes and carry on with what he was doing". About Bottas: "We have complete confidence in Valtteri. We are also loyal to him, as we have always been. He knows where he stands, he knows his position in the team and he knows we support him."

"What we are going to do in 2022 will not be affected by George's performance on an oval and perhaps a real race in Abu Dhabi," Wolff said.