George Russell
This article was written by Maxime Baillieux, Year 11
George Russell Driver Profile
Who is he, and how good is he?
His Stats in F1
Wins: 1 (X1)
Podium finishes: 11
Pole positions: 1
Career points: 469
Grand Prix entered: 104
World Championships: 0
Driver Number: 63
First Race: 2019 Australian Grand Prix
First Win: 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix
Origins
George William Russell is a British driver racing for Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team. He was born and raised in King's Lynn, Norfolk. He was the youngest of a family of three siblings.
Karting
George Russell began his career in karting in 2006 and ranked up to the cadet class of karting in 2009 where he won the championship and was crowned as the MSA British champion and British Open champion.
He then graduated to the KF3 class of karting where he won the championship in 2011, defended his title in 2012 and finished his karting career in 2013 with a 19th-place finish in the KF1 championship.
F4 and F3
George Russell went on to win the very next year his rookie championship in the BRDC Formula 4 Championship, he then went on to be the youngest driver to win the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.
In 2015 Russell took victory in his rookie FIA European F3 race and took two more in Spa and Norisring, he finished sixth overall and 2nd behind Charles Leclerc in the rookie championship.
He then switched teams in 2016 and finished 3rd overall.
GP3 and F2
In 2017 Russell signed with ART Grand Prix for the GP3 championship (old FIA F3). He took victory and pole position in his second race and went on to win 4 races in total and get 3 pole positions which led him to the championship trophy in his rookie season.
Russell in his 2017 GP3 car
His performance in GP3 impressed so much he was signed ART Grand Prix for the 2018 FIA F2 Championship and as a Mercedes reserve driver for F1. Russell won his 4th race (the sprint race in the second round). He would go on to win 3 more races including the finale in Abu Dhabi to beat Lando Norris to the championship in his rookie year once again.
F1
In 2019 Russell signed with Williams F1 to race with them, his rookie season was shared with his teammate Robert Kubica and he was his only real on-track competitor as the FW42 was the sixth slowest car on the grid, this would become a habit for Williams in the coming years.
He sadly finished his rookie career with O points won.
Russell’s FW42
In 2020 however this would change, the Williams FW43 would prove to be a tad bit better, but it's not with Williams he would get his first points. He did so with Mercedes where he stood in for covid-hit Lewis Hamilton, he was denied a victory due to pit-stop errors from Mercedes and a tyre puncture ten laps before the end where he won 3 points. He would then go on to win no more points.
Russell in the Mercedes in 2020
In his 2021 season he would go on to secure a P2 in qualifying in the wet in Spa, where the race would ultimately be abandoned due to too much rain but Russell would keep his podium place which was his first ever F1 podium.
The rest of the 2021 season was uneventful for him apart from the Hungarian grand prix where he managed to get points in the Williams (P8) coming from P17 on the grid.
In 2022 he was finally signed to the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team where he beat his teammate Lewis Hamilton in his rookie season at Mercedes by 35 points. He managed to collect 8 podiums in the 2022 season as well as picking up his first race win ahead of 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Russell in the W13
Russell’s 2023 season was the complete opposite, being a whole 100 points down compared to the 2022 season with only 175 points and 59 points behind his teammate. This can be explained in majority by his 3 retirements, one of which came when he had a real chance to win the race in Melbourne, Australia.
Russell in his W14 ‘b’ spec
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