The risk and reward of Russell's Mercedes opportunity

Mercedes selecting George Russell as Lewis Hamilton's stand-in for the Sakhir Grand Prix provides a dynamic set to challenge both the British driver and Valtteri Bottas for different reasons, while potentially delivering the team some unexpected answers.

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Had Lewis Hamilton's positive coronavirus test come back when the teams gathered in the Bahrain paddock tomorrow, then there is little doubt that Stoffel Vandoorne would be making his Formula 1 return for Mercedes this weekend.

As designated reserve driver, Vandoorne is the man that Mercedes trust to jump in the car in an instant should one of their regular drivers suddenly find themselves unable to continue.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.

Jonathan has won multiple awards for journalism - in 1991 he was the winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Sir William Lyons’ Award for young journalists, in 2010 he was awarded the Outstanding Individual accolade for consumer journalism in the Haymarket wards, in 2011 he won Haymarket’s Scoop of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a prestigious Medaglia d’Oro at the Lorenzo Bandini Awards for his contribution to F1 journalism.