George Russell has revealed that he knows what his F1 future holds, but reiterated that at this time there is nothing to announce. RacingNews365.com understands that Russell will step up to Mercedes from Williams in 2022, with Valtteri Bottas expected to land a seat at Alfa Romeo following confirmation of Kimi Raikkonen's retirement. "As it currently stands, I have no news to announce," Russell told RacingNews365.com and other members of the media ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix. But he added: "I know where I'll be driving next year." When pressed about when he was informed of his F1 future, Russell said this came prior to last weekend's Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps. "Verbally before Spa," Russell confirmed. "I'm not going to sit here and lie and not say the truth. "The truth is there's nothing to announce but as I said, I'm aware of the situation of where I'll be racing next year, and I was informed prior to Spa." Although the move hasn't been made official, Lewis Hamilton gave a ringing endorsement of Russell as a potential teammate during his media session on Thursday. When asked if he'll make a concerted effort not to disrupt things at Mercedes, Russell said: "Obviously a lot of hypotheticals there, nothing is done yet. As I've said a number of times over the past three years, I have a huge amount of respect for Lewis and everything he's achieved, and I've seen him working incredibly hard with the engineers when I was there as a junior driver. "He definitely doesn't just rely on his immense natural talent, he goes above and beyond to try and find the extra best. "For any driver, you want the opportunity to go against the best and learn from the best and I think that would be an incredible opportunity to be there. "These are the same words I've said for the past three years, and what I mean by that is don't take anything from me saying this now, because this is the same things that I've said for the past three years. "Lewis is the greatest of all time, and it would be a huge opportunity to go alongside and learn from him."
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