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George Russell has revealed that Mercedes reserve driver Frederik Vesti is eyeing a seat with a rival F1 team for next season. Vesti made his third FP1 outing of the year at the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend, securing an impressive third place. He was less than one-tenth of a second slower than Kimi Antonelli in the other side of the Mercedes garage, with Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc leading the way.
Vesti was singled out for praise by Toto Wolff after the session and Russell believes he is ready for a full-time seat, with a potential move to Cadillac having been mooted.
As things stand, there are questions over whether Valtteri Bottas will be axed and replaced with another driver in time for the 2027 campaign.
Russell thinks Vesti would do a good job for the American backmarkers and revealed the Dane wants to leave Mercedes and take up that opportunity, if he is offered the seat.
"I know he’s really fighting hard to [earn] the Cadillac seat," said Russell. "I think he deserves his chance. He’s put a lot of effort in working with our team. We all respect him very highly.
"Most F1 sessions that he’s done, he’s had the brunt of the work and not really getting the performance runs in, so I think it was important for us as a team.
"I said to the team [that] I want to ensure that he gets an opportunity to show what he can do. That’s the least that we can do, so we’ll give our best."
Vesti later appeared as a guest commentator on Sky Sports during FP2 and confirmed that he is eyeing a move to Cadillac for next season.
He said: "There’s no doubt I’ve got my eyes on that seat and it would be such a privilege to step into it."
In response to the comments made by Russell and Vesti, a spokesperson for Cadillac told Motorsport Week: "There is a lot of drivers being linked to the CF1 project which is a testament to the progress of the team and its bold ambition.
"This week is all about Checo, his home race, show run and 300th GP. We don’t have anything else to announce at this time."
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