Warrior Russell is a top three driver on the grid, says Mercedes' Wolff

After a relentless performance in the China Grand Prix on Sunday, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has labelled his star driver George Russell as a warrior and claimed he is definitely amongst the top three drivers on the grid and is working his way towards becoming number one.

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The Englishman is now Mercedes main driver alongside the young gun Kimi Antonelli after the departure of Lewis Hamilton and currently sits in third place in the Drivers Championship, nine points behind leader Lando Norris.

“I never give IO out of IO because I think there is always something better. We haven't seen the perfect race, but considering the circumstances that George had in China, it is a 10 out of IO.

“He extracted the maximum of this car, the tyres, the strategy, and it was a brilliant drive. All these discussions about Lewis, who is the biggest person in the sport, leaving for Ferrari, is a great story, Kimi coming in as the youngest driver and the high potential, and little was said about George,” Wolf said in an interaction on Tuesday.