George Russell revels in Alpine’s Fernando Alonso comments – ‘one of the greatest’

George Russell 'gutted' to miss out on Sakhir GP victory

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George Russell has revealed Fernando Alonso’s comment “meant a lot to him” after the Spaniard labelled him a future Formula One world champion, as the 23-year-old eyes up a seat at Mercedes.

Russell won the praise of the two-time world champion ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with the pair having swapped helmets after the Monaco Grand Prix which was won by Max Verstappen.

“George, you rock!! Future World Champ”, read the message from Alonso as he gifted his Alpine helmet to the Mercedes junior driver, with Russell tweeting, “This one means a lot. Gracias, legend.”

Russell in return, gave a red-and-blue Williams helmet of his own after Williams completed their 750th Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.

Afterwards, Alonso reiterated his praise for the 23-year-old, admitting he was “definitely very impressed”.

“I said also last year when I was following the sport that I think he has been very, very impressive with the performance we saw in the Williams,” added Alonso.

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“We know that it is not a competitive package. It is better this year but not in the last two [years] and [despite that] I think he was putting in something special every weekend and that was nice to watch at home. That is something you always get impressed by.”

Russell, who is tipped to replace Valtteri Bottas next season at Mercedes, said it was an honour to receive such praise from a driver of Alonso’s calibre.

“I heard it from the media,” he added, speaking to Auto, Motor und Sport. “It means a lot to me to hear something like Fernando, he’s one of the greatest racing drivers ever.

“I saw a statistic that he’d only be ten or so short of points to have a lot more titles.

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“Two world championships are a great achievement, but it was so close to a lot more.

“It’s always nice to be praised by drivers you respect very much.”

Russell is still waiting to hear about his future and whether he will next year drive for the seven-time world champions. A decision is expected in the coming weeks as Formula One takes a step back from racing for their summer break.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted it was a straight fight between Russell and Bottas, and indicated that there could be an announcement ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August.

Lewis Hamilton leads the way in the driver standings heading into the summer break, with Verstappen eight points adrift.

Mercedes also took charge of the Constructors’ Championship after Red Bull scored just two points over the past two races at Silverstone and Hungary.

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