George Russell says he would relish the opportunity to be paired with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2022, describing the seven-time World Champion as "the greatest of all time".
Russell, contesting his third F1 season with Williams, is still waiting to hear if he will be promoted by Mercedes in place of Valtteri Bottas, with no news forthcoming as the paddock regrouped ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.
Asked how he would feel about going up against Hamilton, Russell said: "Obviously, as any driver, they want to go against the best and Lewis is probably the greatest of all time.
"You want to put yourself against [them] and see how you fare. It would be an honour for anybody to get that opportunity. It's all hypothetical at the moment. [These] are the same comments as I've said [previously].
"If I could choose to race against anybody as my teammate, Lewis would be the one."
In a recent interview with RacingNews365.com, former F1 driver John Watson suggested that Hamilton would prefer to keep the "compliant" Bottas as his teammate for what would be a sixth season, rather than introducing "young lion" Russell to the mix.
"Lewis is in a position of great authority and power within the Mercedes team, within the Mercedes family," said Watson.
"There is a very good reason behind why Lewis was prepared to have Bottas. If you bring in a young lion like George, who I think is outstanding… I've seen over the years where you bring in two drivers who then end up fighting each other in the championship, you open the door to another team.
"I think that, at the end of the day, Mercedes will keep Bottas, simply because it's a known commodity."
Also interesting:
Video: How do Hamilton and Verstappen compare so far in 2021?
RacingNews365.com takes a look at how Hamilton and Verstappen stack up in terms of their performances over the first half of the 2021 F1 World Championship.
Max
Verstappen
Sergio
Pérez
Fernando
Alonso
Lewis
Hamilton
Red Bull
Mercedes
Ferrari
Alpine
