‘It would be exciting’ – George Russell says he’d have no concerns over Mercedes signing ‘best driver on the grid’ Max Verstappen

George Russell says that he would welcome the “problem” if Max Verstappen have been to hitch Mercedes as his crew mate sooner or later amid rumours the Dutchman might be an choice for the Silver Arrows.

Whereas Verstappen has a contract to race with Crimson Bull by means of to the top of 2028, it has not stopped hypothesis about his future from arising, with many questioning if the three-time world champion may probably hyperlink up with the Mercedes outfit in the future, notably in gentle of Lewis Hamilton’s shock change to Ferrari for 2025.

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Requested forward of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix how he would really feel about having Verstappen as his crew mate on the squad, Russell responded: “As I mentioned final week in Bahrain, that is my third season now alongside Lewis, the best driver of all time, and I really feel like I’ve finished a reasonably good job alongside him, so whoever have been to line up alongside me subsequent yr or the years to return, I welcome anyone.

“I welcome a problem. You all the time wish to go towards one of the best however in the end, for me, [I’m] simply targeted on myself. I imagine in myself, I imagine I can beat anyone on the grid and also you’ve simply acquired to have that mentality.

“As I mentioned, having Lewis as my benchmark for the final couple of years has been a reasonably good benchmark for certain.”

Pushed additional on whether or not he may realistically see Verstappen signing for Mercedes, Russell instructed that any crew on the grid would wish to have the reigning world champion of their ranks if given the chance.

“I believe any crew needs to have one of the best driver line-up attainable, and proper now Max is one of the best driver on the grid, so if any crew had an opportunity to signal Max they’ll 100 per cent be taking it,” mentioned the Briton. “I assume [it] can be thrilling.”

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Within the meantime Russell is concentrated on the 2024 season forward and can be hoping for a greater race in Jeddah. After a robust displaying for Mercedes in Free Follow 2 on the season-opener in Bahrain, the crew didn’t appear to match this tempo all through the remainder of the weekend.

Russell in the end completed Saturday’s race in P5 after the W15 was affected by points with cooling, however believes he may have been in rivalry for a podium with out this downside.

“I believe the conclusions we drew [from Bahrain] have been [that] the automobile has potential,” Russell commented. “I believe after we noticed the tempo on FP2, that was real, Lewis and I have been P1 and P2.

“I believe in all probability not everyone turned up however we have been genuinely quick, after which within the race we had some actually large cooling points that caught us abruptly.

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“We all know there’s at the least a 15-second loss simply within the battery and the facility, and doubtless extra after you take into account the impact it had on the tyres. Simply an additional couple of seconds in stint one once I had Checo [Sergio Perez] behind me would have been fairly helpful, so I believe we might have been within the combat for P2, for the rostrum with Checo and Carlos [Sainz], however positively we didn’t present our true potential.”

Russell says that the cooling challenge was a “miscalculation” fairly than one thing that wants fixing and, whereas he’s hopeful that it received’t occur once more in Jeddah, said that the crew will run additional exams on it throughout Thursday’s free apply periods.