George Russell to replace Hamilton at Mercedes in Sakhir GP
- by Florence Jennings
- in Sport
- — Dec 5, 2020
The 35-year-old Hamilton appeared to be drained at the end of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which he won but which was marred by a crash that left Romain Grosjean with minor burns to his hands and ankles after his Haas vehicle crashed and burst into flames moments after the start.
LEWIS HAMILTON has been left "devastated" after being ruled out of this weekend's Sakhir Grand Prix by coronavirus on the same day he was confirmed as favourite to be named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Formula 2 driver Jack Aitken will fill Williams empty seat this weekend.
"It's physical, this track has always been physical", Hamilton said following Sunday's race.
Russell may earn his first points this weekend, as he'll be racing in one of the fastest cars on the track.
Mercedes have won 13 of the 15 races this season - Hamilton 11 and Valtteri Bottas two - and been on pole position in all but one.
But the Frenchman was hoping for much more after a strong Saturday showing, as he looks ahead to tackling the fast, outer Bahrain circuit.
Verstappen will be bidding to take advantage of Hamilton's absence this weekend to claim victory and press home his bid to take the runners-up place in the drivers' championship ahead of the Briton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Lauda clocked 58.79 seconds.
While the inner track at Bahrain has 15 corners, the outer loop has only 11 and is nearly 1km shorter, making it a novel challenge.
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Once similar approval is granted by US regulators, health officials plan to begin vaccinating Americans as soon as mid-December. Rouse now serves as dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
F1 has never raced on the layout before.
Russell would also be an option to stay in the auto for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, should Hamilton not recover in time to return to racing. I'm about to get the chance to drive for two.
I'll do a track walk this week as I haven't seen it in real yet. "I think he can finish his time with Haas in a race, that's what I would like - and not just watching it". Unfortunately even though I returned three negative results this past week I woke up yesterday morning with mild symptoms and requested another test which came back positive.
Russell is still a Mercedes-contracted driver and was the better choice for the team, with Stoffel Vandoorne - their official reserve driver - not having driven an F1 vehicle since the end of the 2018 season.
Russell said: "Obviously, nobody can replace Lewis, but I'll give my all for the team in his absence from the moment I step in the vehicle".
Although Grosjean was mentally impacted by the incident, he is optimistic about his chances of racing in Abu Dhabi GP.
Albon added that "I'm excited for him".
"I'm not putting any additional pressure on myself".
"Nobody can replace this guy [Hamilton], but I'll give my all for the team in his absence from the moment I step in the vehicle".
