George William Russell, born February 15th 1998, is a British Formula One driver competing for Mercedes-AMG Petronas. His first experience driving an F1 car came in October of 2015 when he was allowed to test drive a McLaren as a prize for winning the 2014 Autosport BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club) Award. He also received £100,000 in prize money which he credits with enabling him to continue racing in the early days. In 2016 Russell did simulator work for Mercedes and joined the Mercedes Junior Driver Program in early 2017, which is when things really started coming together. In 2017 he won the GP3 Series, followed by the Formula 2 Championship in 2018, making him one of only five drivers to win F2 in their rookie year. The others were Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc (Oscar Piastri later equaled the feat in 2021). Russell got his first full-time race seat with Williams Racing in 2019 with the understanding that if he performed well he would eventually make it to the Mercedes team. Unfortunately, the Williams car was not competitive at all and Russell struggled at the back of the grid, but he was able to put in some solid performances, always maintaining his composure. His ability to drive the car past its limit in qualifying earned him the nickname Mr. Saturday. When the official announcement that Russell would be driving for Mercedes came in 2022 George was already chomping at the bit. He finished the season fourth in the Drivers Championship, ahead of his teammate, the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, and recording his first ever Formula One pole position and race win.
George was born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk in Great Britain to parents Steve and Alison Russell. He has an older brother, Benjy, and an older sister, Cara. Benjy raced karts competitively, winning a world championship, and along with his parents, helped George navigate his karting career in the early days. Back then, the family had enough money to support George’s karting financially with his father as the chief mechanic, but they knew that there would have to be some sponsorship involved if George was going to move up to single-seaters in the future. So by the age of fourteen, an articulate and mature George Russell was already networking and giving interviews like a pro. In fact, after George had won the Formula 2 championship and had a shot at a Williams race seat he met with team principal (at the time) Claire Williams and gave her a PowerPoint presentation to convince her that he was the best man for the job. It worked and he got his drive, joining his old karting friends, Alex Albon, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc on the Formula One grid.
In the early days of Williams it was a tough slog. George’s friends Alex, Lando and Charles were all at top teams, competing for points while George was bringing up the rear. It wasn’t until 2020 when Russell scored his first points, but he did it in a Mercedes while filling in for Lewis Hamilton on short notice after Hamilton had tested positive for Covid. Russell qualified second, twenty-six milliseconds behind teammate Valtteri Bottas in the other Mercedes, and overtook Valtteri on the first corner of the race. It looked like George might win as he had led most of the race, but tragedy struck during a pitstop with about twenty laps to go when his car was fitted with the wrong front tires and he had to pit again on the next lap. Still, he was able to recover to second place but had to pit again with a slow puncture, eventually finishing in ninth for two points and receiving an extra point for the fastest lap. George was absolutely devastated by the result but it proved that with better luck he had the talent to compete at the front of the pack and potentially win races. Even though his time with Williams was difficult, George learned how to communicate with the engineers and forged a real partnership with the team. It became clear to him that the better he could communicate what he was feeling on track, the faster the engineers could make improvements. During his three years there, the car did improve to the point where he earned sixteen points in 2021 compared to zero in 2019. With Mercedes in 2022, George proved that he could be consistently fast in a car that had some design flaws. If he can help get Mercedes back on track he will no doubt be in contention for Championships in the near future, although Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton might have something to say about that.