Two races from the end of this year’s F1 world championship, several drivers are preparing to end their parentheses in the teams they currently play in, while at the same time preparing their bags for other destinations for next season. Among these, the one who will make a notable leap in category is certainly George Russell, about to leave Williams to join the Mercedes, where he will take the place of Valtteri Bottas. In 2022, therefore, the young Brit will thus join his compatriot Lewis Hamilton, today in full fight for the title against Max Verstappen.
The expectations on the 23-year-old from King’s Lynn are already high, so much so that the same team principal of the three-pointed star, Toto Wolff, considered Russell able to be candidates for the fight for the world championship right away. However, the Austrian manager’s claims did not convince another driver who, in the past, had to face Hamilton precisely as a teammate at McLaren – despite the fact that the future seven-time world champion was, at the time, his debut in F1 – thus knowing the reality of such a delicate internal challenge: Fernando Alonso.
Interviewed by PA Medium on the eve of the Qatar Grand Prix, the Spaniard from Alpine commented on Russell’s qualities as a driver, even though he was not yet fully ready to immediately engage in a championship duel with such a highly rated opponent: “In the two years that I have watched the races – Alonso analyzed – what George was able to do with Williams was really impressive, even if he didn’t occupy the noble zone of the standings. However, I don’t know if he will be able to beat Lewis. Even though George was exceptional, Lewis is still a legend, a great champion who is never easy to defeat. It doesn’t matter how talented you are. For sure, it will be closer than Valtteri did – he concluded – but there will be no doubts that Hamilton will still remain Mercedes’ reference driver in the first part of the season ”.
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