Williams Racing retains Russell and Latifi for 2021
By Andrew Hooper
July 17 2020
Williams
Racing retains Russell and Latifi for 2021
The Williams Racing Team would
announce that they would continue with their current drive lineup going into
2021. They would join Ferrari, McLaren and Renault in confirming their
drivers.
Both George Russell and team-mate Nicholas Latifi confirmed that they are on
multi-year contracts that would see them back at Williams in 2021.
Russell said: “I signed a
three-year deal with Williams and I’ll be staying there for 2021, to build
on last year and hopefully what this year turns out to be."
"I will be giving everything for
Williams this year and next year, and see what happens after that.”
Latifi also confirmed the same contract with the Williams team.
Latifi said: “I have a multi-year deal with the team, so yes I will be with
the team in 2021.”
In regards to Russell, who is a Mercedes Junior driver, Deputy Team
Principal Claire Williams had indicated that she wanted to keep him. The
situation was in part resolved when it became knowledge that Mercedes had in
principal an agreement with Bottas that will see him stay with their team in
2021. The original thought was that George would replace Bottas in 2021.
Russell added: “Claire was very firm in her decision that she was not ready
to let me go."
"Ultimately, as I have a contract with Williams, I have to respect that
decision.”
Regardless of what happens in 2021 Russell is still seen as a potential
future Mercedes driver.
Both drivers said they would be staying with the Williams team regardless of
whether new owners came in for 2021.
Excellent news for Williams: it means funding from the Latifi-family in 2021 and the team has an excellent and talented driver again (Russell). Also, stability with the drivers is good I think.
However, I'm not sure if this is a good step for Russells career. A guy with so much talent simply deserves a better car after driving the slowest car 2 years in a row. His time will surely come, but I hoped for him he could make a step up in 2021 with a better car.
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