As speculation linking George Russell with the second seat at Mercedes reaches fever pitch, Max Verstappen believes that George Russell will make life "difficult" for Lewis Hamilton.

While much of the free world has decided that George Russell is Lewis Hamilton's new teammate, Mercedes is showing no sign of an 'announce' any time soon.

Following on from his highly impressive debut with the German team in Bahrain last year, Russell served further notice that he is ready for the big time by claiming a front row spot at Spa Francorchamps last weekend in a Williams.

Hamilton has made no secret of the fact the he would prefer to maintain the current status quo at Mercedes by retaining Valtteri Bottas, however, if speculation is correct his calls have fallen on deaf ears.

Many believe that 'new kid on the block' Russell will give the seven-time world champion a harder time than his current 'wingman', a view that title rival Max Verstappen subscribes to.

"He jumped into the car in Bahrain, and basically he was already from lap one, making it very difficult for Valtteri," the Dutch driver told reporters at Zandvoort.

"So you can only imagine the more experience you gain in that car, and the more you get accustomed within the team, naturally you're going to be becoming faster.

"When you do your first race, you are guided by the team about set-up direction, because you just don't know what to do really, initially, with the car," he added.

"I remember my first race at Red Bull," he continued. "The thing I said was is that we will just follow a bit what Daniel (Ricciardo) is doing because I have no clue about what this car needs to go quick because even though F1 cars look pretty similar, the way of setting them up can be very different.

"So yeah, for sure, I'm very confident. Already what you could see, the performance he did in Spa was really good.

"Of course they set up the car a bit more for wet conditions, but nevertheless, to do that in a Williams was very impressive.

"I do expect him to do very well if he gets that seat."

Check out our Thursday gallery from Zandvoort, here.