Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
RUSSELL TURNS UP HEAT ON BOTTAS
Belgium Grand Prix Today, 2pm GEORGE RUSSELL turbocharged his hopes of becoming Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate with a stunning second place for Williams in a wet qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The performance put former champions Williams, who have been uncompetitive for years and this month scored their first points in F1 since 2019, on the front row for the first time in four years.
Russell was even heading for an astonishing pole position until Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pipped him at the end.
The Brit was 0.013 of a second quicker than title leader Hamilton – who starts third – while Valtteri Bottas, whose place Russell could be taking next season, qualified only eighth before taking a five place grid penalty for his role in the first-lap carnage in Hungary last time out.
Hamilton said: “Great job by George. That’s fantastic.”
And Russell’s team boss Jost Capito was quick to see the significance.
“We would love to keep him of course but this result, if [Mercedes boss] Toto Wolff hasn’t got the decision done yet, I think this puts him even more to Mercedes,” he said.
“He’s just a talent. He deserves to be in the car that is capable of winning the championship and we fully support him in that.”
Wolff said Mercedes already knew what Russell could do.
“I think by now we know where we stand and we know what we have, what he can do,” said the Austrian, who promised an announcement soon.
“This is another confirmation.” Russell said: “The car was feeling great – I had so much confidence.”
It was crucial for Verstappen, who heads into today’s grand prix eight points behind Hamilton after losing a 33-point lead in just two races, to start from pole.
“We needed that,” he admitted. McLaren’s Lando Norris walked away from a heavy shunt during the final phase of qualifying that forced a 40-minute halt to the session.
The Brit was taken to the medical centre for checks and a precautionary X-ray of his elbow.