Williams team principal Jose Capito has refused to be drawn upon George Russell's future, although he does emphasise the driver's close relationship with Mercedes F1 - and how that could affect any possible contractual talks. Russell has long been linked with a move to the Mercedes F1 team, with the Brit being touted as Valtteri Bottas' eventual replacement. A move of this nature in 2022 would leave Williams without a lead driver, but Capito is understandably reluctant to provide any updates heading into this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix. "You can't ask me that (about Russell's contractual situation). You know tha George is a Mercedes driver for many years. I don't think that they will let him go, but we will see, we've got time to talk about drivers. We are not in a need now to discuss that," the team boss told RacingNews365.com and other selected members of the media. "Of course he's doing a great job. He is a fantastic driver, we created a really good relationship. And I think he would fit very well to Williams for our future as well. And think if he believes in our future, there might be a chance to keep him." Williams head into this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix in search of their first points of the season, having failed to achieve a top 10 finish in any of the opening four races in 2021. With the Monte Carlo race being notoriously attritional, Capito is up for taking a few risks, in order to try and get Russell and Nicholas Latifi into point-scoring positions. "In Monaco, anything can happen. And that's something you never know, with us being at the back of the grid. Normally we can take some risks or strategies that the front runners can't do," Capito added. "And that can work out and can not work out. But we'll think about what we'll do this weekend, we might do something different than others - if that makes sense. Because we can we can afford to do that."
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