George Russell joining Mercedes could leave Valtteri Bottas 'hurt' with new team - Button

Former F1 driver and Williams advisor Jenson Button has backed George Russell moving over to Mercedes, however, says it could ‘hurt’ Valtteri Bottas in the long run. Russell has been heavily linked with a seat at Mercedes ever since he stepped in for Lewis Hamilton at the Sakhir Grand Prix after the seven-time world champion contracted COVID-19.
On debut, the young Mercedes driver very nearly snatched a win but suffered a string of bad luck which saw him cross the line P9, grabbing his first points in Formula One.
This season both Bottas and Russell are out of a drive come the end of the year, with Hamilton secured at the team for an extra two years.
And 2009 world champion Button believes we could see some changes ahead of 2022.
“I think there’ll be some drivers leaving their teams at the end of the season,” began Button.
“But, at this point in the season, many top teams have their drivers in place for next season and are pretty happy with them. There are quite a few contracts up at the end of the season, I think, but I don’t think there’ll be any significant changes.


