George Russell insists his current focus is solely on helping Williams despite his aspirations to step up at Mercedes.
Last year’s Formula 2 champion has been ruled out of the running to replace Valtteri Bottas by team boss Toto Wolff, as the Austrian seeks to continue Russell’s development at the Grove-based team.
And while that might cause initial disappointment for the 21-year-old, he is not letting it distract him from his current task in hand.
“Obviously there’s no driver in this paddock who would decline a Mercedes [seat], just a fact, and obviously being part of Mercedes is great from my side,” Russell said.
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“I always know that is a possibility, that if they believe I’m ready my chance may come, but as of now I’m just fully focused on one job and that’s here at Williams.
“I know that’s all I have to focus on for my longer-term future with Williams, my longer-term future with Mercedes, take it race by race, almost lap by lap, session by session and get the most out of it every time then my career will be in good hands.”
Russell hasn’t been able to make the same impact in F1 as the likes of Lando Norris and new Red Bull driver Alex Albon due to the current performance issues at Williams.
However, he has faith that the historic outfit can turn things around.
“Yeah absolutely. The only reason I wouldn’t be at Williams next year is if I’m in a Mercedes, but as I said before, I’m absolutely committed to Williams at the moment,” he stated.
“If the opportunity came along with Mercedes that would obviously be fantastic, but that’s not at the forefront of my mind.
“I’m fully focused here, and everything we’re doing now is also focused towards next year’s car and putting that on a better level to what our current car.”
His dominant performances alongside Robert Kubica haven’t gone unnoticed either, with former Williams technical director Pat Symonds singling out the Mercedes junior for the future.
“I’ll give you a slightly off-the-wall answer. Watching George Russell in Formula 2, I’ve been really impressed with him,” he said when asked to choose a likely future world champion.
“I’ve seen him race really well in so many different circumstances, leading in the front, controlling the race, coming through traffic, wet weather, dry weather, when things have gone wrong he’s kept at it. I’ve got a feeling he might be a guy to watch.”