Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff has denied Valtteri Bottas and George Russell are in a “shootout” for a seat at the team in 2022.
Russell has been drafted in as a replacement for reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton at this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix after he contracted COVID-19 earlier this week.
Mercedes’ decision to loan Russell from Williams and place him alongside Bottas has lead to suggestions it will allow the team to directly compare both drivers, before evaluating who will be offered a race seat in 2022.
With Russell out-pacing Bottas to top both of Friday’s practice sessions at the Bahrain International Circuit, it has only added to the increasing speculation.
But speaking on Friday in Sakhir, Wolff was quick to quash the idea of a showdown between the pair, insisting Mercedes cannot make a call on its future line-up with limited data.
“Not at all,” Wolff said, as quoted by Crash.net. “I’ve heard this rumour. Obviously you can’t call it a ‘shootout’ when it’s about one or two races. That doesn’t give you any meaningful data whatsoever.
“If George does well it’s an indication that one day he’s going to be in a good car and hopefully race for victories and world championships. But that is far away, he knows that and he just needs to deliver a solid job and not make any mistakes.
“There is no shootout. We have total trust in Valtteri and loyalty as we’ve always had and that is our position.”
Wolff was clear that Russell’s performance this weekend, and potentially in Abu Dhabi if Hamilton cannot return, will have no influence on his future with the team.
“It’s another set of data points that will be giving us more information in our overall understanding of George’s performances,” Wolff said.
“We know that we [will] race next year with Lewis and Valtteri. Where we are in 2022 is all going to depend on where our own season in ’22 is going to go and not by George’s performance on an oval in Bahrain and in a season final in Abu Dhabi.”
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