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"In my view, there is only one decision for Mercedes next year
with regards to the second seat," Brawn, now Formula One's
managing director for motorsport, wrote in a column on the
formula1.com website.
The 23-year-old Briton stood out in qualifying at Spa when he
got on the front row of the Belgian Grand Prix grid for
Williams, a team who this month scored their first points since
2019.
The 2018 Formula Two champion then made his first podium
appearance by finishing second when the race was declared after
three laps behind the safety car due to the wet conditions and
poor visibility.
Russell had already stood out for fine qualifying performances
in an otherwise uncompetitive car and as a stand-in for
seven-times world champion Hamilton in Bahrain last season.
He is expected to replace Valtteri Bottas, with the Finn out of
contract at Mercedes. Team boss Toto Wolff said on Sunday a
decision had been made.
"We all know George Russell has a fantastic talent. We have seen
it a lot at Williams, and we saw it amplified at Mercedes, when
he stood in for Lewis Hamilton at the Sakhir Grand Prix last
year," said Brawn.
"George’s performance reminded me a lot of Fernando Alonso when
he drove at a wet Spa for Minardi in 2001. He was mighty
impressive in a car that clearly was not up to the job.
"In those conditions, the ratio of driver to car changes -- and
we saw that with George on Saturday. He doesn’t have a front-row
car but in those tricky conditions in qualifying, he trounced
people with far better cars than he had."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Clare Fallon)
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