Claiꦬre Williams says George Russell’s talent alone, and not his links to Mercedes, was key to her Formula 1 team signing him for 2019💮.

Russell,ဣ who is on the verge of being crowned this year’s Formula 2 champion, was confirmed as the first driver to b🐟e named in Williams’ driver line-up for next season earlier this month.

The Briton has received backing fro🏅m reigning world champions Mercedes since the start of his GP3 title-winning campaign in 2017, though Williams insisted this was not a factor inᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ his graduation to F1.

“George has obviously come up through the Mercedes young driver prog✤ramme but that was not a factor in our decision-making,” Williams' deputy team principal said.

“We purely saw a young tal🌠ent coming up through the junior championships, as I think we all have. W💜e’ve all recognised the talent that George has, and are probably all pretty excited about the talent that he has coming into this sport.

“So no, the Mercedes relationship wasn’t a factor. George has a multi-year arrangement with us movi🉐ng forward and he will be a Williams driver during that period and wil🥃l focus on being a Williams driver.

“There were no factors around financial considerations with M💯ercedes on making that decision. It was purely a decision made on the talent that George has.”

Williams wants 2019 F1 line-up sorted by end of season

Fellow Mercedes junior Esteban Ocon, Sergey Sirotkin and reserve driver Robert Kubica are understood to be on Williams’ shortlist for the sole-remaining seat at the team, following Lance Strol🐟l’s expected departure to Force India.

Williams hopes a decision can be made before the end of the current campaign, though she said the Grove-based squad is not in “any mad rush” to complete its ༒line-up.

“We haven’t made that decision yet, we𝔉’re taking our time with it. We’re not in any mad rush,” Williams added.

“We have a few drivers on the list; clearly I wouldꦬn’t confirm who they are. But we are excited about that decision too, we have some exciting prospects that we are evaluating now.

“We’ve got a number of cꦆonsiderations to factor into that♊ decision and we’ll make an announcement in due course; I’m hoping by the end of the season.”

Williams revealed the team has a “good budget” heading into 2019 despite a difficult season and stressed tale🌸nt will be the main consideration when making the final call on its second dr🐷iver.

“Independe𒅌nt teams in this sport haven’t had an easy ride over the past few years, the spon🌄sorship landscape is pretty tough out there,” she explained.

“The way that the prize fund distribution is at the moment i🌳n Formula 1 doesn’t make it easy, and not least coming tenth in the championship this year puts the squeeze on things a little bit, but we’re managing ou﷽r finances pretty well.

“There are a lot of consid❀erations when it comes to choosing the driver for the second seat – but predominantly the main one has t𓂃o be on talent.”

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