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Yet Mercedes agreeing to give Hamilton veto power may mean Russell has to wait a little longer, depending on his mindset.
The seven-time world champion has won the Drivers’ Championship in all four seasons he has had Bottas alongside him in the Mercedes garage.
The Finn has finished second in the past two seasons, although both times a long way off of his team-mate, but Hamilton has repeatedly leapt to his defence.
He said at the end of 2020: “When I talk about people need to give Valtteri his due respect, I think you’ve got to remember who he’s driving up against; it’s not easy being my team mate, you know?
“But he comes in, weekend in weekend out, with the same mentality, he’s never moaning, complaining that something’s wrong with the car, it’s always ‘I’ve got to do a better job’, and I don’t know any driver that does that.
“I think that’s something we share in common: We come into this weekend with a fresh head, and I think mentally, he’s one of the strongest drivers here.
“I think Valtteri is getting stronger and stronger each year. Every year you can see him just grafting away and chipping away at trying to raise the bar in so many different areas.
“And you’ve seen this year, I think, whilst the points gap now is where it is, if you look at a lot of qualifying, it was the smallest of margins.
