One of the worst-kept secrets of 2021

Oh, has he been hired to drive the safety car then?

George is now announced. We’ve had a couple of video links and chats with him at the club. Amazingly calm young man with his head fully screwed on tightly.

I can imagine the plan is that he will be a better wingman to Lewis next year and fend off Max to allow Lewis a run at title no.8 (anyone still really think he'll get it this year?). But if you think Valteri was somewhat disobedient at the end of the Dutch GP I can imagine George will take it to another level and quite happily take the fight to Lewis if the opportunity arises. He's an ambitious racer and all the respect in the world doesn't change the fact that if you have a title shot you take it as you never know how quickly your car can go from being best one season to an utter dog the next.

I don't think they're developing the Merc for the remainder of the year so with all resources going into the 2022 model it should be a blinder. No doubt Red Bull will be throwing the kitchen sink at this years car to try and get the drivers/constructors titles which may make their next years car interesting.

Hopefully Russell will take the fight to Lewis, he needs to get the garage on his side which I understand isn't that difficult as Lewis doesn't really do the internal PR thing. Odd the Germans have taken 2x British drivers which isn't that marketable outside of these shores.

Anyone see a McLaren 2007 situation on the horizon?

Nope, I think that George is more sensible and mature. I reckon he knows that Lewis has only a few more years to go before he retires, and that although he will give Lewis a good run for his money, he'll play the team game for now, because he knows it's only a matter of time before he should be the undisputed Number ! in the team

I suppose the difference can be seen in the fact that the other player in 2007, Along, has remained in the sport for most of Lewis's career whereas Lewis will only compete with George for 2 or perhaps 3 seasons.

I think George has shown that with the good driver the Williams is not a bad car. Not a great one or a race winner of course but nowhere near as bad as the dog that the Haas is. If they keep improving then it's potentially a good move for Albon. From what I keep reading the Williams team is also still a great environment to work in.

I bet there's going to be a right bun fight for those two Haas places!

Status Quo at Haas, Mazepin and Schumacher confirmed for 2022. Mazepin was an aforegone conclusion as his family are effectively bankrolling the team