George Russell will be Lewis Hamilton's teammate at Mercedes for the 2022 Formula 1 season, the team have confirmed, following months of speculation. Russell will replace Valtteri Bottas who, earlier this week, confirmed that he will be leaving the World Champions at the end of 2021 to join Alfa Romeo on a multi-year deal . Mercedes announced on Tuesday morning that Russell will step up from Williams to drive alongside Hamilton in 2022, having signed a "long-term deal". Russell joined the Mercedes junior programme in 2017, winning that year's GP3 Championship with their backing. Stepping up to Formula 2 in 2018, he became the champion at his first attempt and graduated to Formula 1 with Williams in 2019. Having dominated teammates Robert Kubica and Nicholas Latifi over the past three seasons, Russell's reputation has skyrocketed thanks to eye-catching qualifying performances. An opportunity to step into race-winning machinery at last year's Sakhir Grand Prix in place of the sidelined Hamilton at Mercedes saw Russell seize the moment to challenge strongly for the victory, until a late-race puncture ruined his chances. According to Mercedes, Russell is now ready to make the step up to Mercedes and continue his development alongside Hamilton.
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