Russell believes Wolff has always believed in his prowess regardless of Saskill's performance at the Grand Prix

George Russell believes that Mercedes manager Toto Wolff has always believed in his strength, and that The Sakhir Grand Prix's outstanding performance has only changed the perception of outsiders.

The Briton will become a Mercedes driver in 2022 after being loaned to Williams for 3 years and struggling most of the time on the track. But at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, Russell was given the chance to play in place of Hamilton, who seized the opportunity and finished second in qualifying, just 0.026 seconds behind his temporary teammate Valtley Bottas, where he overtook the Finns and led in most of the races, only to fail due to team errors and punctures.

Although he had to wait another nine months before announcing his promotion to Mercedes, Russell believed that the Mercedes manager had always believed in his strength, and only outsiders believed that Sakhir's outstanding performance at the Grand Prix influenced Wolff's decision.

He said: "In my career, the key person is Toto... He ultimately has the final say. He believed in me and he had faith in me, even when I could only finish the race with the last place. So for me, that game was obviously an important moment for a lot of other people, but in the end it was Toto who made the decision. He's been keeping a close eye on my career and I think he believes in my ability, so that game probably won't play a role in changing his mind. But I guess for everyone it was a race to stand out, and when I look back, it was also a pretty crazy game. ”