Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has admitted George Russell could be facing a similar path to Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes.
Russell has been part of the Mercedes family for almost a decade, joining as a junior driver in 2017.
He received the call-up to drive for the team in 2022, replacing Valtteri Bottas who, for several years, played a key second driver role alongside Lewis Hamilton.
Russell appeared destined to lead the squad following the exit of Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari, with Kimi Antonelli stepping up to replace the seven-time champion.
But in their second year of partnership, Antonelli has been the more impressive competitor and currently holds a 59-point lead over Russell in the standings.
When asked if Russell is now the new Bottas at Mercedes, Steiner told the Red Flags podcast: “That's a tough question. Let's see how he reacts.
“It looks like it - I don't know if he's or not, but it looks like it. It really looks like it.”
However, Steiner said that Russell can just as easily seek out a lead driver role at another team if he feels he is not getting equal opportunities at Mercedes.
“But it's in his own control as well,” he said. “Valtteri obviously was happy to be that because he stayed there forever.
“If George is not happy with that, he needs to find something else to do. It's not easy to find something else to do because there's no seats for next year, but 2028, maybe.
“Maybe George says, 'I do not want to be the next Valtteri Bottas and here for 10 years finishing second the rest of my life. I need to go somewhere else'.
“But that's down to him, not to Mercedes, to decide.”
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