The Meꦡrcedes driver earned plaudits in his first y🌊ear with the team last season by outperforming Lewis Hamilton.

But this year he sits eighth in the F1 standings behin💝d both R💃ed Bulls, Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, both Ferraris and Lando Norris.

“I can’t ma𓆏ke up my mind about him,𓂃” ex-F1 boss Ecclestone told the about Russell.

“I like him. He is super-talented.

“It is a matter of what he is prepared to do 📖to win. He was hoping Carlos Sainz would run out of road [at the Singapore Grand Prix]. 

“He was pushing very, very hard. I don’t think he thinks his rac💧e through, something Lewis does do.”

Russell’s victory at la🌃st season’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix is Mercedes’ sole win since 2021, a brief ray of light in a dreadful period.

Both♔ Mercedes drivers penned fresh contracts to remain at the team until the end of 2025 and the “needle” between them was commented upon by Sky Sports TV pundits after last weekend’s F1 Japanese Grand Prix, when their differing strategies became a talking point🦋.

Ecclestone, now aged🌠 92, has picked out ꦓanother F1 prodigy as the best driver to target.

“If I were a team owner, I think I’d get hold of the Austr♑alian kid,” he said about Oscar Piastri, McLaren’s r💧ookie driver.

“He’s very good. But Max Verstappen𒊎 i🍨s the best I have ever seen.”

Piastri and Norris have profited from a major leap in performance from McLaren across the past few races, and the Aussie claimed his first ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚF1 podi𒆙um last weekend in Japan.