MERCEDES chief Toto Wolff was giving nothing away when quizzed on George Russell’s long-term future with the team.
The young Brit, 22, stepped into Lewis Hamilton’s shoes in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
Russell, who is on loan to Williams for the season, looked certain to win on his Mercedes debut before the team ruined his chances with a disastrous pit-stop mix-up in which Wolff described as a ‘colossal f*** up.’
World champion Hamilton will return in his car for Sunday’s race in Abu Dhabi if he tests negative for coronavirus.
But Russell has been touted to become Hamilton’s team-mate in the future when Valtteri Bottas’ contract expires in 2022.
Under increasing pressure to sign Russell to a long-term contract, Wolff said ‘he needs to see what the future holds.’
He added: “To be honest, I haven’t made up my mind what that means for us.”
But speculation that Russell will replace Bottas was further increased after eagle-eyed fans noticed something amiss on Instagram.
The Finnish racer removed ‘Mercedes’ from his bio, having previously had it on there.
His page now reads: “Valtteri Bottas. Driver. #VB77.”
After beating him by one place in Sunday’s race, a relieved Bottas said he was in danger of looking like a fool.
He said: “I might have looked like a complete c***, a fool, so that’s not nice.
“It was a pretty bad race for me from that side and it will be very easy for people to say that a new guy comes in and beats the guy who has been in the team a few years, so it was not ideal.
“He obviously did a mistake-free race, but I still knew there would be everything to play for.
“The race was not finished when we had the thing with the pit stops, which changed everything.
“I managed to go a bit longer on the medium tyre and that would have opened up opportunities for me… I was catching him.”
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