George Russell

George Russell will compete with Mercedes for the 2023 F1 season, his second with the German team.

George Russell F1 Career (2019 - Present)

With the top three from the 2018 F2 Championship each landing F1 drives for 2019, Russell was placed at Williams Racing under the direction of Mercedes..

Frustratingly for Russell he found himself in an increasingly cash-strapped team in the midst of a decline that began in 2017, unlike rivals Norris and Albon who had ended up at the more competitive McLaren and Toro Rosso teams instead. 

Paired with a race winner in Robert Kubica, who was making a high-profile return to F1 after ten years out of action due to arm injuries sustained in an off-season rallying accident, Russell had an impressive benchmark on which to test himself.

This proved just as well since the Williams FW42 was comfortably the slowest car on the F1 grid in 2019 and Russell spent his year trying to make up a significant amount of time just to get the machine off the back row. Even so, though Kubica was admittedly a shadow of a former racer that was being primed for a Ferrari move back in the day, Russell still rammed home the advantage by out-qualifying him in all 21 races.

With the car too slow on a level playing field, it would take unusual factors for him to get into contention - such as the high-attrition Austrian GP and the weather-affected German GP - but the points would remain just out of his grasp with Russell classified 11th on both occasions. 

Gallingly for him, it was Kubica that scored the team’s sole point in 2019 with a run to tenth in Germany - after overtaking the Briton late on in conditions where his experience told - but Russell was still widely praised for out-performing the machinery available to him all year.

Despite some talk Russell could be set for a switch to Mercedes-associated Racing Point for 2020, the move by Lawrence Stroll to bring Aston Martin Racing on board for 2021 would put an end to the talks.

As such, Russell stayed with Williams for the 2020 F1 season and benefited from a significantly quicker - albeit still mid-to-tail end competitive - car to further demonstrate his potential for the future, comfortably clear of new counterpart Nicholas Latifi, whom he’d enjoy a 100% qualifying record over for the second consecutive year.

Indeed qualifying would prove a surprising strength for Russell throughout the 2020 F1 season, hauling the Williams FW43 off the back row and into Q2 on ten occasions, peaking with an 11th place start during Round 2 at the Styrian Grand Prix.

However, while the Williams proved well-sorted over a single lap in Russell’s hands, its race set-up would be more of a compromise and the Briton would often find himself losing ground to rivals around him over a longer distance.

That’s not to say Russell didn’t get close - agonisingly so - when a poor standing restart after a red flag towards the end of the Tuscan Grand Prix saw him slip from ninth to 11th at the chequered flag, while he spun out of a points’ paying position behind the safety car at Imola.

It meant points would elude the youngster for the second consecutive year in Williams colours, even if his qualifying efforts alone compounded the widely held impression it will be a matter of when, rather than if he finds significant success at F1 level.

Even so, Russell didn’t come away from the season empty-handed, the legacy of an immensely impressive - albeit unrepresentative - ninth place result in the Sakhir Grand Prix at the wheel of the title-winning Mercedes W11.

With a seat opening up unexpectedly ahead of the race after Lewis Hamilton contracted COVID, Russell was ‘promoted’ out of the Williams for a one-off outing, seen by many as a deliberate direct comparison with Valtteri Bottas, whom he is tipped to replace outright in 2022.

Up to speed straight away, Russell was only beaten to pole position by Bottas by a tenth - ironically making it the first time a team-mate had out-qualified him - but a better start saw him lead for much of the race and on course for his maiden win (and maiden points).

In the end a bungled pit-stop, caused by Mercedes fitting the wrong tyres to his car, necessitated another stop and dropped him down the order to an eventual ninth for what was still his first points in F1.

Russell quickly showed everyone why he was worthy of being a Mercedes driver for 2022 with his consistent Q2, and even Q3 appearances. 

He finalled ended Williams' points drought - as did teammate Latifi - at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He then started at Spa in the wet, qualifying second on the grid for the race.

The grand prix being abandoned meant that Russell held onto second to secure his maiden podium and Williams' first since 2017.

Despite driving an underperforming Mercedes W13, Russell quickly adapted to life with the German team with a remarkable run of top five finishes to kick start his career with F1's dominant force.

His remarkable consistency was rewarded with a maiden pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix, before storming to his maiden win in November 2022 at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Russell also became the third teammate ever to out-score Hamilton across an entire season - something that only Jenson Button (2011) and Nico Rosberg (2016) have also achieved.