Lewis Hamilton's teammate to join Max Verstappen at Red Bull? Helmut Marko gives his take

Helmut Marko feels that Lewis Hamilton's teammate George Russell is a strong driver, but as per him, Red Bull might prefer to give the team's younger talent an opportunity. Earlier, even Christian Horner had mentioned him as one of the options that the team could explore.

While Toto Wolff dismissed any talks of Russell moving out of Mercedes to Red Bull by saying that Horner has a habit of stirring things up, the option is certainly on the table. Hamilton's teammate has been one of the best drivers on the grid this season and his performances indicate that as the year has progressed, he has taken over the leadership role within the team.

Red Bull, on the other hand, is looking at options that could possibly replace Sergio Perez and make the team lineup stronger. While Horner floated Russell's name, Marko insisted that the brand would look within the academy and give them the opportunity. As quoted by Autosport, he said,

"George Russell is on a par with [Lewis] Hamilton in qualifying, if not faster. But Russell is Mercedes-Benz-affiliated, and now we are focusing on our juniors. We see this with [Franco] Colapinto, for example, he was relatively inexperienced and not very successful in the junior series, although it has to be said that he never had the best teams, but what an incredible performance he is putting in now."

He added,

"And now let's see what our juniors or even a Yuki Tsunoda can do. He can also be described as a junior. But as I mentioned earlier, how does he compare to a Lawson?"

Lewis Hamilton's departure means Mercedes would have a George Russell-Kimi Antonelli driver pairing

Lewis Hamilton will leave the team at the end of the season and will be replaced by Kimi Antonelli in 2025. Mercedes would have a lineup where the young teenager will team up with Russell next season. At the same time, Russell's contract will end in 2025 and the driver will have an option in hand to leave the team.

With Toto Wolff's public approach of Max Verstappen becoming more and more prominent, questions have been raised over what Russell's future at Mercedes would be. Wolff has said that there won't be any more flirting with Verstappen, as he told Motorsport,

“I think I've expressed it before, and we have a similar view also from Max's side: you've got to put faith in your drivers or in your team. You need to give it the maximum support you can to make it a success. And only if things go really wrong, you will consider other opportunities."

He added,

“For me, it's like flirting outside whilst you're making your relationship work. It doesn't work, I'm not flirting outside."

With that being said, a team that has lost Lewis Hamilton will not pass by the opportunity to get a Max Verstappen in the team.