Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has outlined the boundaries that George Russell must not cross once he is in the Silver Arrows garage from next season in Formula 1.

Russell will be sat alongside Lewis Hamilton at the current Constructors' champions in 2022 and naturally has ambitions of using the car to his advantage in order to win races and then titles.

Hamilton, of course, will be eager to prove himself against another new challenger in the team, meanwhile, and many are interested to see how this new dynamic is going to work with the harmony that Valtteri Bottas brought potentially at risk.

Wolff, though, has already sought to outline the boundaries that Russell must not cross when he joins the team, clearly with the view to avoid a repeat of what happened with Nico Rosberg when he was there.

"This is Mercedes. We have no place for the genius jerk. Even a superstar driver has to respect team values," he said to the Daily Mail.

“I wouldn't hesitate in the future if a driver talked bad about the team or wasn't appropriate, I would first deal with it internally and if that didn't yield results I would take the driver out of the car. On the bench, yes.

"And George Russell is another intelligent young man. He will slot into the team but that doesn't mean he has to hold back when driving. You can't expect a lion in the car and a puppy out of it.

"But there are certain boundaries within the team that must be respected and George knows them very well. Once the lights are green, only the drivers are responsible.

toto wolff

"I can't interfere, manage, or remote control them, but one thing is of ultimate importance — don't touch. That's your responsibility. You can race hard, but no contact.

"I've been there before with Nico when it wasn't just a rivalry. There was a lot of animosity and that's not going to happen.

"This is about showing respect for each other and it can be hard because if you race on the same spot on the race track you will eventually come across each other — but there is an integrity we expect that no one is ever bigger than the team.”