Mercedes know they can "count on" George Russell in the future after his performance at the Sakhir Grand Prix, Toto Wolff says.

Standing in for Lewis Hamilton after his positive Covid-19 test, the Briton was putting in a drive worthy of the seven-time world champion, as he took the lead from Valtteri Bottas at the start and controlled the race out front.

Later, however, a tyre mix-up at his second stop under the Safety Car had forced Russell to recover from fifth, but having worked his way upto second, a puncture ended his hopes, eventually resulting in a ninth-place finish.

But while the disappointment of a missed win was hard to take, it was clear the 22-year-old had more than made an impact on Mercedes.

“We didn’t want to set expectations high and he over-delivered, and over-delivered, and over-delivered," Wolff stated.

"He over-delivered on Friday, he over-delivered yesterday in qualifying in just a few hundredths away from Valtteri and he over-delivered today. His racing was unbelievable.

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“He got off the starting line with the best reaction time in a car that isn’t built for him, that is much too small with paddles that didn’t fit his hands and he got into the lead and drove a brilliant race, and could have won twice.

"We learnt that George Russell is someone to count on the future. He has all the potential and all the ingredients that a future star needs. In that respect, I am sad for the result that he could have had in his first race for Mercedes but on the other side, I am happy about his performances.”

After the race, Russell hoped that by doing his "talking on the track" he had given Mercedes "a headache" over its future driver line-up.

And Wolff was asked about the possibility of pairing Russell with Hamilton, perhaps as soon as next year.

“[Right now] he’s a Williams driver and is signed up to Williams, and our driver line-up is Valtteri and Lewis," he insisted.

“So I don’t see this as a realistic situation at that moment of time, but I can understand that it would be an interesting situation, both in the team and maybe a bit of a wild ride for all of us. Maybe we’ll have that in the future.

“George has always been a Mercedes driver,” Wolff added.

“He’s a Williams driver now and they can be proud of what he’s done today. They will know that his lap times in a Williams are probably the benchmark.

“And now we need to see what the future holds. I haven’t made up my mind now what that means for us.”