George Russell’s career to date - from callow talent to assured team leader
- Elodie O’Callaghan
- Apr 3
- 7 min read
Updated: May 28
Written by Elodie O’Callaghan, Edited by Rohan Brown
Following the departure of Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes, George Russell has now been thrown into the spotlight as the team leader for one of Formula One’s biggest teams. The young Brit has come a long way since he first appeared in the series, and his recent run of form suggests he is stepping up to the challenge.
Can Russell consolidate his role at the helm of the German manufacturer, or will his highly-touted young teammate Kimi Antonelli outshine him? A look back at his career development to date gives an insight into his mentality and ability.
Early years in F1
Russell debuted in F1 in 2019 with the legendary Williams marque. Baby-faced and fresh off the heels of a Formula 2 title, he was highly-anticipated. Expectations were not particularly high for his first season, given Williams had been fading in recent years, however, nobody expected the team to experience quite as big a drop in performance as they did.
Williams failed to appear for the first two and a half days of the eight days allotted for pre-season testing, losing valuable time that could have been spent fine tuning the car. Furthermore, their car was the slowest overall in the test, being detrimental to drive and overweight.
To add fuel to the fire, the car was also initially found to be illegal in spec, with the front suspension and mirrors not in conformity with the FIA regulations. The car was in such a disastrous state that Chief Technical Officer Paddy Lowe left the team in disgrace mere weeks after pre-season testing.
The FW42 was successfully homologated before the opening round in Melbourne, but the pace was just not there. Russell qualified in 19th, only beating teammate Robert Kubica, and was a colossal 2.3 seconds off of first-placed Hamilton in Q1.
They similarly made no progress in the race and Russell finished 16th, only ahead of Kubica and drivers who failed to finish, two laps down from the leaders. The season would continue similarly, with Williams’ singular point of the season being scored by Kubica at the German Grand Prix. Russell would finish the season dead last, the only driver to end the year pointless.
The 2020 season showed some more promise for the Williams team. Their FW43 was far more stable and had more raw pace. Pre-season testing went by without issue, and though their car was still the slowest, it was much closer to the rest of the field than before.
Unfortunately however, Russell failed to score a point in the Williams car for the second season running. He came close on a number of occasions, most infamously at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, where the Brit was in 10th and in prime position to get his first point in F1, before and unforced error under Safety Car conditions left him in the barriers at the Acqua Minerale section.
Whilst his season for Williams was ultimately unsuccessful, he would get his big break later that season. In the days before the Sakhir Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19, and was sidelined for that weekend’s race. Mercedes didn’t think twice about giving junior driver Russell the nod.
After driving uncompetitive machinery for his whole F1 career, he finally got a chance not only in a faster car, but in the fastest car in Formula One history. If he wanted to earn a seat at the Mercedes team permanently, he needed to prove himself in this race, and prove himself he did.
Russell managed to qualify his W11 on the front row, a mere 0.026 seconds off teammate Valtteri Bottas. In the race, he showed great bravery, diving down the inside of Bottas into turn 1 and taking the lead. He was in prime position for much of the race, before the wheels came off in the latter stages. First, in the pits, his Mercedes team attempted to double-stack Russell and Bottas under the safety car.
However, they mixed up the two driver’s tyres, and Russell left the pits with a mixed set of his and his teammate’s tyres, which is not allowed. He was thus forced to pit for a second time to correct this issue.
Russell was dropped down to fifth place, but quickly made it back up to second, in hot pursuit of race leader Sergio Perez. However, this pursuit would be curtailed when he got a slow puncture in his rear-left tyre.
Russell was forced to pit again. After this series of unfortunate events, he was left in 14th, but managed to climb back up to ninth, earning his first points in F1.
Despite this disappointing result, it was clear to see that if factors beyond his control were removed, Russell could have easily won the Grand Prix. This performance proved just how quick and assured he could be, and dispelled doubts about his mentality that arose from the Imola crash.
This was a common thread in his early career, where Russell showed blistering pace but was also accident and mistake-prone. The latter made Mercedes uncomfortable to promote him to the main team at the expense of the reliable hands of Valtteri Bottas. As such, he would remain in the Williams seat for another year in 2021.
Earning the step up
Russell would return in 2021 with a vengeance, eager to prove Mercedes wrong for deciding against promoting him that year. His main focus was on further dispelling doubts about his mentality and reliability.
The season would not get off to a good start in that department. At Imola, Russell tried a risky overtake on Bottas, with on slick tyres in the damp conditions, he went off line through Turn 1, running onto the grass and losing the car, slamming into the side of Bottas.
Both cars ploughed into the barriers at a high speed. Russell then accosted Bottas on track following the incident, and was unwilling to take any blame for the incident. He eventually apologised, but his calamitous mistake and on-track outburst set him back on the progress he was making to earn Mercedes’ trust.
The rest of the season was far better from Russell however, with no more major incidents like Imola.
He vastly outperformed his FW43b, with the highlights being a points finish in Hungary, where he was lauded for his willingness to sacrifice his race to help teammate Nicholas Latifi score points, and a front row start in the Belgian Grand Prix which subsequently turned into a podium following the cancellation of the race after two laps behind the Safety Car.
These performances showed a clear improvement in his maturity. Russell was finally awarded the Mercedes seat he worked so hard to achieve, starting in the 2022 season.
Starting with Mercedes
Russell stepped into Mercedes for the 2022 season, in tandem with the start of the new FIA regulations, with ground effect and completely revised aero packages. Mercedes were a team that really struggled with these regulations.
Their car was required to be run incredibly low to the ground to extract maximum performance, but the phenomenon known as porpoising, where the ground effect would cause the cars to bounce up and down in the straights, plagued Mercedes more than any other team.
To mitigate this effect, they had to raise the ride height of the car, massively compromising performance. As such, the W13 was a car with good pace to unlock, but which was difficult to access without triggering the porpoising effect. Across the season, Mercedes finished third. Russell beat teammate Hamilton, and the two drivers finishing fourth and sixth respectively.
Russell also broke through to record his first Grand Prix win in F1 and Mercedes’ only victory of the season, taking the chequered flag at the São Paulo Grand Prix. He led home a Mercedes one-two, with Hamilton in second.
2023’s W14 was, on paper, a more drivable and quicker car, but in a way that echoed Russell’s second season at Williams, the year was ultimately less successful than the previous campaign for the Brit. Mercedes changed car concept midway through the season, transitioning from the temperamental ‘zero-pod’ design to a more conventional aero setup which included sidepods.
This meant the team effectively had to start from scratch. As such they failed to record a win, and Russell finished a lowly eighth in the championship, whilst Hamilton took the team to an impressive third placed finish.
2024 was a step forward, and a true breakout year for Russell. The W15 was a massive improvement on its predecessors, and on its day was the measure of the field. Russell recorded a career-high four pole positions this season. Additionally, he also scored two Grand Prix victories.
The first was in Austria, following the collision between race leaders Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, which ruled them both out of the running. Russell sped past their stricken cars to take the lead, an intense albeit unchallenged final laps were in store for the British driver, before he took the chequered flag for his second career victory.
His other win of the season came in much less fortuitous fashion. Starting from pole for the fourth time in his career, he went on to complete a lights-to-flag win in Las Vegas. This complete dominance in such a challenging track served to prove that the Brit had truly come of age, and was one of Formula One’s best.
Recent races and the future
George Russell has been on a brilliant run of form as of late. The King’s Lynn driver has finished in the top five in each of the last seven Grands Prix. Additionally, he has not crossed the finish line outside of the points since the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix (discounting his disqualification at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix).
Throughout Russell’s career, questions have been asked about his mentality, his temperament, and his reliability. He had been prone to crashes and contact with other drivers for much of his career, even into his Mercedes stint, with incidents such as that with Carlos Sainz at the 2022 United States Grand Prix a stain on his otherwise brilliant record.
However, since the start of the 2024 season his maturity and assuredness have shone through, and he is one of the most consistent drivers in Formula One, bringing home the big points week in, week out.
2025 is going to be the biggest test for Russell in his career to date. With the departure of his larger-than-life teammate Hamilton, and introduction of a wet-behind-the-ears teammate in the form of Antonelli, Russell has been thrown into the team leader role he has assuredly said he is prepared for.
If recent results are anything to go by, Mercedes know their W16 is in good hands, but there is still a whole season left to run, and it remains to be seen how Russell will react if Antonelli starts to outpace him.
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