[FuzzyPeaches]

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

First choice of the available drivers must be Russell.
As a possible future replacement for Bottas or Hamilton he has to be top of the list if Williams will let Merc borrow him.

Otherwise its Vandoorne or Hulkenberg neither especially inspiring but at least Nico would have a chance to get that elusive podium.

EDIT: There is an advantage to Williams in letting Russell drive the Mercedes...in that his performance against Bottas
(and by extension Hamilton) might give them some idea of where they are with the Williams.
In the sense that... if he does well against Bottas then it indicates that any improvements in the Williams performance will come more from car development than because Russell is underperforming the car.

Originally Posted by yco

timing is not bad for such a thing at least..



i believe Russell is more like a mid or long-term project for Merc' but i dont know about the regs that can let that happen right away for this weekend as a replacement.. Merc' and Williams is not like Red Bull and Alpha Tauri in the end.. maybe they can i dont know..

i agree for comparing part but expecting Russel to outperform Bottas right away is a possibility but quite minor.. and probably Merc' is tracking his performance a lot a lot detailed way than we talk here already.. jumping into W11 d be a great thing for Russell but he is already progressing towards there.. Wolff is a very clever guy..

If I'm not mistaken, Russell is actually under contract with Mercedes. Part of the Merc-Williams engine deal is that Russell has that guaranteed seat. It might not be that difficult to pull him from the Williams car and put him in the Merc.