George Russell

Russell has stepped up to a full-time Mercedes F1 seat for the coming season after spending the last three years racing for the customer Williams squad.
Russell’s performances at Williams won him widespread acclaim throughout the F1 paddock, and convinced Mercedes to partner him with Lewis Hamilton five years after joining its junior programme.
While performances in Hungary, Belgium and ...

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After three years with Williams, Russell has joined Mercedes full-time for the 2022 season, partnering seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
The promotion for Russell comes after five years with Mercedes’ young driver programme that saw him win titles in GP3 and Formula 2 before graduating to F1.
PRIME: How Russell sees himself in the Mercedes-Hamilton superteam 
Speaking in an ...

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For although there was little time to make major changes to the W11 in the short period he had before the Bahrain weekend got going, the insight he got in to Lewis Hamilton’s approach and demands was hugely valuable.
One example was the way he had to use Hamilton’s steering wheel layout, which includes his single wishbone-style paddle arrangement.
Upon his return to Williams, Russell set ...

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Russell featured in both days of the post-season running at the Yas Marina Circuit this week, driving a modified Mercedes W10 from 2019 to sample Pirelli’s 18-inch tyres for 2022.
It marked Russell’s first outing for Mercedes since his stand-in appearance for Lewis Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, when he came close to winning on debut for the team.
Mercedes announced in September ...

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At the Yas Marina season finale Lewis Hamilton was looking certain to win an eighth world championship until a late crash by Williams driver Nicholas Latifi threw a spanner in the works.
With five laps to go F1 race control quickly decided to send out the safety car, which put Hamilton in an impossible position, either having to continue on worn hard tyres or cede track position to title rival ...

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Russell was eliminated from Sunday's race, which was red-flagged twice, after being smacked from behind by the Haas of Nikita Mazepin on lap 16, as the bunched up field streamed through the first sector following a restart.
Russell was taking avoiding action for Red Bull's out of control Sergio Perez, who was spun round by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
The Briton just managed to slow down ...

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Russell will leave the Williams team at the end of the current season, having spent his first three years in the sport with the Grove-based outfit.
The Briton will replace Valtteri Bottas alongside seven-time champion Hamilton, who has been with Mercedes since the 2013 season, winning six titles with the team.
Russell raced for Mercedes in the 2020 Sakhir GP when he replaced Hamilton after ...

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While Hamilton is expecting nothing less than a strong challenge from Russell when he steps up from Williams to replace Valtteri Bottas next year, the seven-time champion senses a golden opportunity to help guide his new teammate.
He thinks that 23-year-old Russell’s positive attitude and strong work ethic, allied to them being at difference stages of their careers with Hamilton 13 years his ...

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Since he earned 10th place at the Russian GP, Russell has finished the last five races in 15th, 14th, 16th, 13th and 17th positions.
He’s also struggled of late to match his early season pace in qualifying, having previously been guaranteed to at least make Q2.
Despite failing to score in recent races Williams still looks set to beat Alfa Romeo to eighth in the World Championship, as it ...

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The Briton was edged out by teammate Nicholas Latifi for the first time at Interlagos, on a day when the duo struggled for form and were both knocked out in Q1.
Russell says the lack of speed from the car was of greater concern to him than Latifi having done a better job.
"It just didn't come together for me," Russell told Sky. "I think Nicholas did a really good job, so well done to ...

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After being loaned out by Mercedes to Williams for three seasons Russell will finally move up to the Brackley outfit in 2022, replacing Valtteri Bottas as Lewis Hamilton's teammate at the works team.
Ever since the deal was announced in September, Russell has received plenty of questions on his impending move, but the Briton says it would be "unprofessional" to be thinking ...

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Russell missed most of second practice on Friday afternoon after a transmission problem developed early in the one-hour session.
But he was already running the gearbox he had been set use in Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, after his usual high-mileage ‘practice’ gearbox had developed its own problem during FP1 and had been swapped out.
The problem on Russell’s race ...

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After the first qualifying segment at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez had been suspended following Lance Stroll’s heavy crash at the Peraltada midway through Q1, the remaining cars began to queue at the end of the pitlane when the near-half hour stoppage was about to end.
The queue featured the two Haas cars stopped in the fast lane in front of the Williams garage, with Russell and Latifi ...

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Russell began the day with a high-mileage ‘Friday gearbox’ but after he experienced a problem with that in Free Practice 1, the team opted to fit his race unit, which normally would not be used until Saturday.
However, that too suffered an issue early in FP2, forcing Russell to miss most of the session after he crawled back to the pits on his out lap. The team quickly determined that it ...

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After his second place in the Belgian GP moved Williams well ahead of Alfa Romeo in the points table, Russell suggested that he would no longer be wary of taking risks and losing potential scoring opportunities.
He’s now confirmed that the cushion has given him the confidence to try different things, especially on first laps.
At the start in Austin last weekend he jumped from last spot on ...

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The British driver will move to his fourth power unit of the 2021 season and is set to drop to the rear of the field from wherever he qualifies.
Russell entered the Austin weekend at the maximum season allocation limit for internal combustion engines, turbochargers, MGU-H, energy store and control electronics, which means the accrued penalties for taking a whole new Mercedes engine would leave ...

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Russell moves to the works Mercedes team next season, and will be replaced at the Grove outfit by former Red Bull Racing driver Alex Albon.
Latifi, who has spent two seasons alongside former F2 rival Russell, has bolstered his reputation with some strong recent showings relative to his highly-rated teammate.
The Canadian says that Russell has been a great benchmark to measure himself against ...

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Russell, who has scored points in three of the last four races for the team that had previously not had a top 10 result since the 2019 German GP, grabbed third place on the grid in Sochi behind Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.
His recent form, including a front row slot in Belgium, has earned him huge plaudits and comes ahead of a switch to Mercedes next year.
But reflecting on what potential ...

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After qualifying second at Spa last month, Williams driver Russell put in another impressive display in damp conditions to secure P3 in qualifying at the Sochi Autodrom on Saturday.
The performance only added to the buzz around Russell ahead of his move to Mercedes for 2022, when he will partner seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Russell and Hamilton will start side-by-side on the ...

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Russell led the top 10 shootout runners in moving from the intermediates all drivers had used in Q1 and Q2 to the soft slick compound with six minutes of Q3 remaining.
He explained how the rest of his fourth Q3 appearance of 2021 had gone in the post-qualifying press conference at Sochi, where he finished behind pole winner Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.
Russell said: "I came on the radio to ...

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The Briton made the most of a switch to slick tyres in Q3 at Sochi to grab third spot on the grid for tomorrow’s race behind Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.
And, while he is aware that there are some super fast cars behind him – including Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, plus the Red Bull of Sergio Perez – he thinks the potential is there to cause a further upset.
Having ...

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Russell has been Williams's leading driver since he joined the team in 2019, and has outqualified Latifi in every grand prix since the Canadian made his F1 racing debut at the start of the 2020 season.
The British driver will leave Williams for Mercedes next year, leading to suggestions that the team will not be as strong. Russell will be replaced by Alex Albon alongside Latifi next ...

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Red Bull reserve driver Albon will make a racing return to F1 next year after signing for Williams, having dropped off the grid at the end of the 2020 season.
Albon will partner Nicholas Latifi next year, replacing the Mercedes-bound Russell, who is a close friend of the Anglo-Thai driver.
Albon and Russell raced against each other through much of their careers, stretching back to go ...

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Mercedes announced on Tuesday that Russell would be joining the team for the 2021 season, replacing Valtteri Bottas as a teammate for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Russell has been a member of Mercedes' junior programme since 2017, and has impressed during his time at Williams in F1 over the past three seasons.
The announcement led to pictures emerging on social media of a ...

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Mercedes endured some difficult spells when Hamilton and then-teammate Nico Rosberg raced alongside each other from 2013 to 2016.
As well as having a difficult relationship behind the scenes, Mercedes found itself having to manage an increasingly fraught situation between the two drivers, especially as there were a number of collisions between them.
Things have been much better inside the ...

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