Toto Wolff has thanked Williams for allowing George Russell to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for this weekend's Sakhir Grand Prix.

On Tuesday, it was announced the seven-time world champion has gone into isolation in Bahrain after testing positive for Covid-19 shortly after developing mild symptoms on Monday.

And though Mercedes do have reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne, Russell will instead step up with Jack Aitken stepping in at Williams.

“First and foremost, I wish to thank our loyal partners at Williams for their collaboration and open-mindedness in making it possible for George to race for Mercedes this weekend," Wolff said in a statement.

“The conversations with the team at Williams were positive and pragmatic and those were the key factors in reaching an agreement."

Commenting on why Mercedes chose Russell over Vandoorne, Wolff explained...

“It will not be a straightforward task for George to make the transition from Williams to the W11, but he is race-ready and has a detailed understanding of the 2020 tyres and how they perform on this generation of cars.

“George has shown impressive form this year with Williams, playing an instrumental role in their climb up the grid, and I am optimistic he will deliver a strong performance alongside Valtteri [Bottas], who will be a demanding reference for him.”

For some, this weekend could offer the first direct comparison between Russell and Bottas, with the Briton considered first in line for a future Mercedes seat when a change is made.

But for Wolff, the focus is on ensuring the performance of the Brackley-based team remains at the same level without their star driver.

“This race will mark a small milestone for us, as we see a member of our Junior programme compete for the works Mercedes team for the first time," he noted.

“We have a job to do this weekend and the full focus of our sporting efforts will be behind Valtteri and George in order to maximise our points score as a team.

“But, of course, our thoughts are also with Lewis and we will be supporting him as much as we can to make a rapid recovery during his period of self-isolation.”