Quote Originally Posted by Nitrodaze View Post
Shifter, l think you are not fair on Russell. There is a buzz around him because he is a real talent. I would go as far as to say with championship-winning potential. I don't think anyone has suggested that he was a proven candidate per see. He would be said to be proven if he has at least one f1 world title to his name to qualify as proven. What he has done is showcase what is possible from him if given the Mercedes seat. What we saw was exciting. Particularly on a day when Bottas was looking very ordinary.

Among the next generation of drivers; the Norris, Gasly, Verstappen, Leclerc and Sainz, he is clearly a calibre among the best of them. If Redbull is thinking of knicking him from Mercedes, it is because they can see that. But l do agree with you on the point that there are other drivers that may have performed equally well in the W20. Ocon for instance finished on the podium at Bahrain in a Renault. Imagine what he could have done in a Mercedes.

That said, he has not been promoted into the Mercedes because Bottas and Hamilton are still in those seats. It is not because he has not met the criteria for filling one of those seats but because he is in a queue. Being in the wings waiting, puts a lot of pressure on Bottas. Bottas' confidence appears to be seriously dented by the race in Bahrain. He probably has not recovered from it by all accounts
I am being more than fair about Russell. Of all the drivers you have mentioned in the previous few threads, he is the one with almost no comparisons in F1 except for a single drive in a dominant car. Yet you've stated that in equal machinery he could beat Max. Then you go on to include Gasly and Norris as up in the same league.

None of us know if that is true. We still don't know if Lewis can be Max in equal machinery. We simply know that Lewis and Max, both in superior cars, are beating the rest at the moment.

There are probably a number of drivers that would be competing in the dominant cars. The trick is figuring out who the actual strongest drivers are, since the comparison is only usually those drivers in the lesser cars. And I think all of us fully understand that nobody is promoted to a seat in a better car while those seats are still filled. Contracted under programs or not, those drivers don't get a chance until the right seat opens, and even then it can be short lived at times.