Mercedes decision on Bottas or Russell this week?

The Mercedes team boss targeted the summer break to make the decision, with an announcement expected around the time of this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Early in the year, a story leaked that Russell's management had been informed that their charge would be driving for the World Champions in 2022, but "shhhh, tell no one!"

Of course, word got out and the whole world got wind of it and a spin-doctoring campaign followed to sweep it all under the carpet. But the penny dropped at the time as did Valtteri's spirit. All season he has had the demeanour of a guy who knows he is walking the F1 plank.

Will he be saved dropping overboard?

We should know soon enough according to Mercedes boss Wolff, the puppet master in this Silly Season saga, who told GPFans Global: "We want to take the decision in the summer break.

"There are a variety of opinions also within the team and the Daimler board, we just need to stick our heads together and say: Okay, what is everybody thinking?"

As if Wolff does not make the final call.

In the end, he knows the score and will reveal it all when it suits him, the rest is the predictable showmanship and now boring gamesmanship that we have had for the past decade.

Either way, Hamilton is very unlikely to have inked the two-year extension he did in July not knowing who his teammate is.

While Bottas remaining with the team would suit Hamilton in his comfort zone, of unchallenged number one at Mercedes and the Finn as a wingman, but it appears that story has overstayed its welcome.

When you cut away the BS, Russell's promotion is deserved and the right thing to do even if it means another British driver for their media to get giddy about and inevitably more biased reporting to contend with.

Has a back of the grid driver ever got as much exposure as George?

Pressure to place Russell in the top team has been relentless from this partisan media, the 'dream story' is set to materialise: the King of F1, Sir Lewis welcomes (?) Prince George to the top floor of his Mercedes castle, while the Viking is sent packing downstairs to the dungeon where Williams toil.

F1 World Champion, keen observer and pundit, Jenson Button, as if priming the move, said in an interview that Bottas would be a good fit at Williams: “I think there’ll be some drivers leaving their teams at the end of the season.

“But, at this point in the season, many top teams have their drivers in place for next season and are pretty happy with them. There are quite a few contracts up at the end of the season, I think, but I don’t think there’ll be any significant changes.

“It could be a complete swap around with Williams and Mercedes, I guess with George going to Mercedes and Valtteri coming to Williams. He’s been at Williams before, and I am sure it hurts to go to a team that isn’t fighting in front. But he would be great for Williams.

"He comes with a lot of experience, and maybe he’ll find his feet again and mentally, he’ll be in a better place. He’ll also be at a team that doesn’t have Lewis Hamilton in it.

“I think Mercedes have been happy with Valtteri not being on pace the last few seasons. But he’s always come away with good points in second or third in races; so Mercedes has always won the Constructors’ Championships.

“But this year, he hasn’t been performing as well and has been out of the points, and they are not getting the points they are used to, so that’s why they are probably looking elsewhere to get another driver for 2022.

“With my Williams hat on, it would be sad to lose George, but the team completely understands that if he gets an opportunity to race in a car like Mercedes – they have to let him go," added Button. Sounds to him too that the deal is done.

Not long ago there was Max-Verstappen-to-Mercedes 'noise' which ended up being hot air, as the 'love affair' and apparently regular calls between Jos and Toto must have dried up after the Verstappen versus Hamilton war got superserious.

As for Max to Merc, Wolff said: "I think that Verstappen and his entourage are very happy where they are. Red Bull is their team and is their home, and why not keep it like that?

"We have our plans with our drivers, and Ferrari has a great line-up, and Lando Norris at McLaren looks pretty settled, so I think the trajectory is set. We're not looking for a driver," added the Mercedes team principal.

The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps begins this Friday, the deadline Wolff had pencilled (in at the time of the interview) to make the Bottas or Russell decision public.