George Russell has shared his thoughts on a likely long-term partnership with Lewis Hamilton with the seven-time world champion set to extend his stay at Mercedes.
Hamilton's current deal expires at the end of the 2023 season, shortly before his 39th birthday. But he looks set to continue racing for the Silver Arrows beyond that, having affirmed his desire to sign a new "multi-year" deal with his current employer.
He is set to sit down with team boss Toto Wolff over the winter break to discuss terms which will almost certainly mean he will still be racing in F1 in his 40s. His team-mate Russell has a long-term contract of his own, meaning there looks set to be an all-British partnership in the Mercedes garage for years to come.
Reacting to the situation, Russell expressed his excitement about being able to continue racing alongside Hamilton. "It's really exciting to have that potential of Lewis staying on for a number of years to come," said the former Williams racer.
"I think he has proven that he's definitely not lifted his foot off the throttle pedal, and he's definitely the last few races performing probably better than ever. And that's really exciting for me to have the opportunity to be his team mate, to go directly head-to-head with him and grow on this journey that we're on together.
"It really does feel like a journey that the two of us are on, along with the rest of the team, in trying to bring Mercedes back to winning ways. So yeah, I think we've got a really, really great relationship, transparent relationship and yeah, [it would] be great to be team mates for a number of years to come."
Russell's first season with Mercedes hasn't gone to plan. Instead of challenging for race wins as he would have hoped, he has been hamstrung by a less competitive car that has only in the last couple of weeks started to show signs of having been capable of running at the front of the grid.
Both he and Hamilton were strong contenders for pole in Mexico, while a tyre strategy error meant they never got to find out if they could compete with Max Verstappen for the win on race day. There is still a small amount of hope that they can taste victory in 2022, though Russell knows their best chance might have passed them by.
"I think there's a win in all of us when the right opportunity arises and I think it is exciting for us as a team that we've had a couple of opportunities this year to fight," he added. "But I think we have to have our very, very best day and execute everything perfectly and our rivals need to have mishaps and mistakes to give us that half a chance."
