Verstappen’s Predictions For Russell As Hamilton’s Teammate

While there were expectations that Mercedes will announce their 2022 line-up during the Dutch GP weekend, they have now confirmed that they won’t be doing so this week. Many, however, feel that it will be George Russell who will partner Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next year and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has now made a few predictions on how this relationship will be while speaking to the media in Zandvoort

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Max Verstappen’s Predictions For George Russell As Lewis Hamilton’s Teammate

Max began by addressing the possibility of Hamilton getting booed by the Dutch fans

“When you go to a football match and you come into a home ground, the opposition will be booed at some point. It will naturally happen. [the Dutch fans] are very passionate and support their local [driver]” 

He then explained why it would be futile for him to ask them not to boo

“I don’t think it’s up to me say: ‘Guys, you cannot boo.’ Of course, some of them will but I cannot decide for them. I could say ‘You cannot do this’ but do you really think they will listen to me?”

He then gave his opinion on how George Russell would fare at Mercedes

“Already what you could see with the performance he did in Spa was really good. Of course, they set up the car a bit more for wet conditions but nevertheless to do that in a Williams was very impressive. I do expect him to do very well if he gets that seat”

He signed off by suggesting that Russell will make life difficult for Hamilton if he did become a Mercedes driver

"If he joins, for sure he will make it very difficult for Lewis. He jumped into the car in Bahrain and from lap one was already making it difficult for Valtteri. The more time you have in the car and team, the faster you become”
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Current Williams driver George Russell has stated that “Yes, I know where I’ll be driving next year”

“[I was told] verbally, before Spa. As I said, I’m not going to sit here and lie and not say the truth; the truth is there’s nothing to announce” 

“But as I said, I’m aware of the situation of where I’ll be racing next year and I was informed just prior to Spa”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is of the opinion that “If [Russell] goes to Mercedes next year – and I hope he does because I think he deserves a chance there – I'm pretty sure that he will perform very, very well and impress more than one person”

Russell’s teammate Nicholas Latifi thinks that “to the public, the Saturday performances are quite stand-out” as far as Russell is concerned

“But I think besides the actual raw speed he has, his ability to always put everything together on that crucial moment, that lap that counts, is very impressive”, Latifi pointed out

Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen feels that he “had a good run, [he’s] happy with what [he] achieved”

“Obviously you want to win and it's not easy to win. I wanted to win a championship, I got close quite a few times and managed to win it with Ferrari, so happy that it happened, especially with them”

“But the rest, strength or not strength, I don't care. I had fun and I did it my way, and I wouldn't change a single thing even if I could”, Kimi stated

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo thinks that “having the break was a good thing, yes, it was a time to just step back and even during the season, even if you got a weekend off, you’re kind of still in it”

“The forced shutdown forces you to forget about the sport for a bit and just remove yourself, and look from kind of a different point of view”

“And that was cool to just kind of step back and come into Spa with, yes, I’ll simply just call it a fresh approach. I still wouldn’t say I’m maximising everything but it was definitely a step in the right direction”, he surmised

Max Verstappen feels that the organizers of the Dutch GP have “done an incredible job setting this all up and first of all on hosting the Grand Prix”

“It looks very cool and I hope we can have a good fun weekend, of course with a good result; that’s always what you try to aim for”

“But I think we can enjoy ourselves on a Saturday once the fuel comes out and we’ll see how fast we can go around this track”, Max concluded

[All the quotes above are from the official Drivers’ Press Conference]
Will you miss Kimi Raikkonen next year?

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