George Russell says he wants his next Formula 1 contract to be a multi-year deal in order to provide him, and wherever he races, with long-term stability.
Russell joined Williams on a three-year deal ahead of the 2019 campaign and is consequently out of contract at the end of the year.
His Mercedes connections have led to him being linked with a move to the reigning champions, for whom he raced in Bahrain last year, where he stepped in to replace the unwell Lewis Hamilton.
“I definitely think in the position I am currently being a free agent as such going into next year is a good position to be in but I think stability and longevity is important,” said Russell.
“I think it’s so clear with people moving around recently how difficult it is to jump in and adapt to a new team.
“Wherever I find myself next year let’s say, I’d like it to be for a couple of years as it’s so important to have that consistency to be able to grow and progress.”
Russell has never scored points for Williams but has been relatively strong in qualifying this year, taking 12th at Imola and 11th at Portimao.
With overtaking extremely challenging at Monaco Russell is hoping Williams can maximise its one-lap potential.
“Our Saturday performances have been very strong and obviously here, more so than ever, qualifying is the most important,” he said.
“On paper, so far, we are probably the eighth or ninth quickest team on qualifying pace and the ninth quickest team on race pace, but hopefully we can find a bit of magic as we have done in some races previously on that Saturday afternoon just to eek a couple of more tenths out of it.
“On a track like this, it can be the difference between P15 and P9.”
