George Russell would struggle to handle being Max Verstappen's teammate if he swapped Williams for Red Bull in the future, according to former Bridgestone engineer turned pundit Kees van de Grint.

The Williams driver is being linked with a move to Mercedes for next season at the expense of Valtteri Bottas but, in saying that, if such a switch does not happen there has also been talk that Russell would be open to joining another front-running team if the opportunity arose.

Of course, at Red Bull, Sergio Perez has to be considered the favourite to partner Max Verstappen for next season but until a contract is sorted out for the Mexican the question over another driver coming into the team will remain.

Russell going up against Verstappen could be box office in the same team, just as much as it would be him battling Lewis Hamilton in the Silver Arrows garage, but now Dutch F1 pundit Van de Grint has suggested that the Williams man might struggle against the current championship leader.

Speaking to RTL GP Slipstream, he said:

"I think Russell is the type of person who thinks - wrongly in my opinion - that he can handle Verstappen.

"[He believes] that he can handle Hamilton in what will be his final days I can imagine. But I don't think he can handle Verstappen." 

It seems a matter of when and not if that Russell will get a top drive and then we'll just have to wait and see as to how he's going to manage such pressure and expectation.

He's clearly a talented driver, though, so you'd not bet against him succeeding if he had the right equipment and set-up.