Lewis Hamilton's replacement as team leader at Mercedes is already on the books, according to the team's driver development chief.
Hamilton, 38, is in the final year of his current contract with the Silver Arrows. Both sides have publicly signalled their intention to put pen to paper on an extension, but it is yet to materialise and, according to reports, Ferrari are in the process of making an offer to the Brit to persuade him to join them.
Regardless of what he decides to do, Hamilton is in the final stages of his F1 career. So Mercedes will, sooner or later, have the unenviable task of figuring how to replace him.
From a leadership standpoint, the team believes it has already taken care of that. Gwen Lagrue, chief of the Mercedes driver development programme, is confident that George Russell has already shown the skills needed to lead the team into the future when Hamilton eventually leaves.
"You always know that when you have the car to win, not before," he told French publication AutoHebdo. "Nevertheless, what I have observed is that each time [Russell] has had a window of opportunity, he has managed to do something transformative.
"That's very reassuring. If we are able to give him the car, he will do the right thing. If the question is, 'Do we see in George a successor to Lewis to win races and fight for a title?' The answer is clear – yes."
It remains to be seen how accurate is the claim that Ferrari have prepared a £40m contract offer for Hamilton. Safe to say, his boss Toto Wolff has heard it all before – and is not convinced there is ever much truth to the claims.
"These rumours come up every two years when we have to sign a new contract," he recently told Austrian publication Osterreich. "But none of this is true. We discuss normally, without any time pressure.
"I'm firmly convinced that we'll find each other, there's not a millimetre of doubt for me. I can't imagine anything else. If we give Lewis a competitive car, he will win for a long time. Look at Tom Brady and what he was still capable of in his 40s."
