Wolff confident about Russell: 'He has everything to become a champion'

After years of being alongside Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, George Russell will now become Mercedes' number one driver from next season. Joining him at the German team will be rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with only a year of experience in Formula 2 to his name. As a result, it will be mainly up to Russell to take he bulk of the team's wins, and perhaps something more in 2025.

Since the regulation change was brought to the sport in 2022, Mercedes have been unable to design an F1 car that could compete for wins and championships at the front of the grid, meaning that there has been little chance for Russell since joining from Williams after the 2021 season. But for 2025, there is a lot more optimism surrounding the Brit and his team.

With the top teams getting closer together in terms of performance on the back of a hugely competitive 2024 season, there is talk that Mercedes could become a serious factor in the 2025 season. Team principal Toto Wolff will therefore look to Russell in particular as the man to bring his team success. Speaking to Sky Sports, the Austrian even says: "George has it all that you need to be a world champion."

Along with this, Russell has grown as a person in recent years, making him Antonelli's ideal teammate, Wolff believes. "He (Russell) has developed and matured and that is clearly something that Kimi is going to benefit. And for George, I mean, Kimi has raw speed and talent. We wouldn't have taken him otherwise. So these two are going to push each other and that's good," according to the team boss who thinks that Antonelli has now integrated well into the team. He can't wait to see him in action in F1.

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