As of the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix, Russell has achieved two race wins, three pole positions, eight fastest laps and 14 podiums in Formula One. Russell is set to remain at Mercedes until at least the end of the 2025 season.[1]
Russell took up karting at the age of 7, catching the habit from his brother Benjy, a competitive karter who won the 2007 Super 1 National Kart Championship in the Rotax Max category.[10] Russell picked up his number 63 from the kart his brother rented at the time.[11][7]
At 18, Russell moved to Milton Keynes to be closer to his junior racing team.[12] He moved to Monaco in 2022.[6]
Russell began karting in 2006 and progressed through to the cadet class by 2009, becoming MSA British champion and British Open champion. In 2010 he moved to the Rotax Mini Max category where he became Super One British champion, Formula Kart Stars British champion, and also won the Kartmasters British Grand Prix. Russell graduated to the KF3 class in 2011, winning the SKUSA Supernationals title and becoming CIK-FIA European Champion, a title he successfully defended in 2012.[15] In his final year of karting in 2013, Russell finished 19th in the KF1CIK-FIA World Championship.[2][16]
Russell also contested two rounds of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship. He took part in the Moscow round with Koiranen GP before switching to Tech 1 Racing for the final round of the season at Jerez. Racing as a guest entrant, he won the final race of the season after starting from pole position.[20]
Formula 4
In 2014, Russell also competed in the BRDC Formula 4 Championship with defending champions Lanan Racing.[21] He entered the final race of the season at Snetterton in a four-way title battle with teammate Arjun Maini and the HHC Motorsport pairing of Sennan Fielding and Raoul Hyman.[22] After starting from pole position, Russell won the race, his fifth of the season, to clinch the title by just three points from Maini.[23]
In February 2015, Russell was announced as one of the twelve drivers selected to join the British Racing Drivers' Club SuperStars programme, the youngest-ever recruit to the scheme.[26]
In September 2015, Russell took part in the Masters of Formula 3 non-championship event held at Zandvoort. After finishing fourth in the qualification race,[31] he went on to finish second behind teammate Antonio Giovinazzi in the main race.[32] Russell was also scheduled to compete in the Macau Grand Prix with Carlin, but was replaced by Japanese Euroformula Open Championship driver Yu Kanamaru shortly before the event.[33]
Russell switched to Hitech GP for the 2016 season, scored two victories, and finished third in the standings.
Russell made a solid start to the season at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, where he finished the weekend with 4th and 5th position finishes. The next race at the Red Bull Ring saw him take his maiden pole position and victory in the GP3 Series.[36] Russell scored back to back pole positions at his 'home race' at Silverstone, before converting this into another victory in the first race of the weekend and taking 4th position in the second race, on his way to taking the championship lead.[37]
Russell racing at the 2017 Spa-Francorchamps GP3 round
A dominant performance at Spa-Francorchamps soon followed which saw Russell build his championship lead advantage, after taking a victory and a 2nd position in the two races, alongside Pole Position and Fastest Lap in both races.[38]
The next round at Monza saw only one GP3 Series event take place after adverse weather conditions resulting into the Saturday Race being cancelled.[39] Russell won a titanic tussle with his ART Grand Prix teammates Jack Aitken and Anthoine Hubert to seal his fourth victory of the season.[40]
Russell had taken four victories, three pole positions, and five further podiums to put him in a position to seal the championship at Jerez, with a complete round of the championship still to run at Yas Marina. Russell won the 2017 GP3 Series title after taking 4th position in race two, giving him an unassailable lead in the championship standings.[41]
Russell qualified in 2nd position on debut at Bahrain, finishing 5th in the opening round of the championship.[45] In Baku for the second round of the championship, Russell led the majority of the feature race before a late safety car caused drama at the restart, denying him a maiden victory in the series.[46] Coming through from the back in the sprint race, Russell set the fastest lap on his way to taking victory from 12th on the grid.[47]
Russell took his second victory of the season in Barcelona, after prevailing in a duel with Nyck de Vries, taking his maiden feature race win of the season.[48] He followed that up with 4th in the sprint race to move up to 2nd in the championship standings.[49] In Monte-Carlo, Russell had an engine failure in free practice which severely limited his running. Russell was on the back foot, qualifying in 16th position, and endured two races outside of the points. Russell hit back in France at Le Castellet, taking his maiden pole position in Formula 2.[50] He led a wet / dry challenging race from lights-to-flag and took his third victory of the season and the championship.[51]
He would later go on to win the title with a victory in the feature race at Abu Dhabi after a season-long fight with fellow Brit Lando Norris. With his title, he became the fifth rookie champion of the GP2/F2 category (previously achieved by Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hülkenberg, and Charles Leclerc), the fourth driver to win the GP3/F3 and GP2/F2 titles in consecutive seasons (after Hamilton, Hülkenberg and Leclerc), and the second driver to win both of these titles as a rookie (after Leclerc). Oscar Piastri subsequently matched each of these feats.
Russell began working with Mercedes in 2016, logging time in their simulator.[53] Due to the high cost of racing in the junior categories, he was forced to seek funding from a Formula One team's junior driver programme.[54] Russell signed with the Mercedes Junior Team in early 2017[55] after impressing Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff with a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation explaining why Wolff should sign him.[56][57] Wolff "set hard targets" for Russell, asking him to win the GP3 and Formula 2 titles before progressing to Formula One.[58]
In 2018, Russell became one of Mercedes' reserve drivers. He once again drove a Mercedes for that year's in-season Hungaroring test,[61][62] and tested Pirelli's tyres for Force India after the Spanish Grand Prix in May.[63][64]
In October 2018, Williams announced that Russell had signed a multi-year deal to drive for them,[65] partnering Robert Kubica for the 2019 season.[66] His first appearance for Williams was at the 2018 post-season test at Yas Marina Circuit, driving the FW41.[67] Russell remained a Mercedes junior and tested the team's F1 W10 EQ Power+ on two occasions.[68]
Russell qualified 19th and finished 16th in his debut race, the Australian Grand Prix. His highest placement of the season was 11th at the rain-affected German Grand Prix, where he narrowly missed out on scoring his maiden Formula One point, having been overtaken by Kubica in the closing laps.[69][70] He came close to scoring points a second time at the Brazilian Grand Prix, when a late safety car allowed him to finish 12th, just 1.5 seconds behind the 10th-placed car.[71] His first retirement came at the Singapore Grand Prix when Romain Grosjean made contact with him during an overtake attempt, sending Russell into a wall.[72] He retired again at the Russian Grand Prix with a wheel nut issue.[73]
Russell ended the season 20th in the Drivers' Championship, scoring no points.[74] Although Mercedes had hoped that Williams would field a competitive car – Russell later noted that Williams had finished no worse than fifth in the constructors' standings from 2015 to 2017[75] – Williams' 2019 car, the FW42, was the slowest car of the field;[76] Russell did not finish ahead of a car from another team until round six, the Monaco Grand Prix. In most races Kubica was Russell's only on-track competition, and Russell qualified ahead of him at all twenty-one races.[77]
Following Kubica's departure from Formula One, Russell was paired with his former Formula 2 competitor Nicholas Latifi.[78] The Williams car was more competitive than in 2019, but it did not show up in the standings, as Williams did not score any points all year. Although Russell convincingly outperformed Latifi on track, the team was so strapped for cash that it considered replacing Russell with Kevin Magnussen if Magnussen could find enough sponsor money to keep the team afloat.[79] However, this never came to fruition, and the Williams family sold the team in October.[80] Despite Williams' struggles, Russell's performances impressed the Formula One team principals, who ranked him the No. 6 driver of the season in their annual poll.[81]
Russell came agonisingly close to 10th place on several occasions. At the Styrian Grand Prix, Russell surprisingly qualified in 11th place, a personal best, after a wet qualifying session.[82] However, he ran wide into the gravel in the early laps and ultimately finished 16th,[83] both Williams drivers struggling for race pace.[84] He finished 12th at the British Grand Prix, overcoming a harsh demotion to the back of the grid for failing to slow for yellow flags in qualifying. He took advantage of a retirement-ravaged Tuscan Grand Prix to make his way from 18th to 9th, but after a poor restart following a red flag, he finished 11th.[85] At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, he also crashed out from 10th place under safety car conditions, an incident he described as the "biggest mistake of [his] career".[86]
Mercedes stand-in
In a humorous reversal of fortune, Russell was catapulted overnight from the worst car on the grid to the best when Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton tested positive for coronavirus before the Sakhir Grand Prix. With Williams' approval, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff invited Russell to fill in for Hamilton.[87] Before the race, Russell declared that he felt "no pressure",[88] although Wolff expected him to finish in the top five.[89][90]
Russell submitted a well-regarded audition performance at Sakhir, and received praise from Mercedes and the racing media.[91][92] He nearly put the car on pole, settling for second after teammate Valtteri Bottas beat him by 26 milliseconds.[93] In addition, he overtook Bottas at the first corner and led most of the race. However, he lost the win due to two mishaps out of his control. He was forced to pit twice in a row when the Mercedes pit crew accidentally fitted Bottas' front tyres on his car following a radio failure.[94][95] He overtook Bottas a second time, recovered to second place, and was closing in on race leader Sergio Pérez, but a puncture with ten laps to go forced him to pit again.[96] Russell finished ninth. Although he earned his first World Championship points, two points for ninth and one for the fastest lap, he remarked that the result "really bloody hurt".[97][98]
Return to Williams
Russell performed media duties for Mercedes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but returned to Williams when Hamilton was declared fit to compete.[99] Following Friday practice, Russell said that returning to Williams was a "strange feeling", having competed in the faster Mercedes the week before.[100] For the event, he wore a special helmet as a tribute to Williams co-founder Frank Williams and former deputy team principal Claire Williams.[101] Russell qualified 18th and finished the race 15th.[102][103]
Williams retained the Russell-Latifi pairing in 2021, and enjoyed its best season in several years.[104] The Williams car was finally capable of competing in the midfield on occasion. Russell placed 15th in the Drivers' Championship, scoring 16 points to Latifi's 7.
Russell entered 2021 amidst rampant speculation that he would replace Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes in 2022. (Following Russell's promotion to Mercedes in 2022, Russell implied that Mercedes had looked into finding him a new team for 2021, but his three-year contract with Williams was airtight.[75]) At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in round two, Russell found himself level with Bottas' Mercedes on lap 30, a most unexpected situation. He attempted to overtake Bottas, but drove onto a wet patch and lost control of his car, crashing into Bottas and causing a double retirement.[105] Russell initially blamed the incident on Bottas, walking over to Bottas after the crash and slapping his helmet (Bottas responded with a middle finger), and accusing him of "trying to kill [them] both".[106] However, Russell later retracted his claims and apologised to Bottas and Williams.[107] Mercedes boss Toto Wolff acknowledged that Bottas should not have been side by side with a Williams in the first place, but reserved the bulk of his criticism for Russell, a Mercedes junior who had just taken out a Mercedes.[108] However, Wolff allowed Russell to continue testing for the senior team. Russell completed a Pirelli tyre test in the team's F1 W12 E Performance at the Hungaroring in August.[109]
The first half of Russell's season was marked by an even more difficult series of near-misses than in 2020, as Russell repeatedly got close to the points positions but could not convert. Close calls included the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where a gearbox failure prevented Russell from capitalising on a restart while he was in 15th place;[110] a 12th-place finish at the French Grand Prix, where he mounted an ambitious recovery drive from 19th and picked up seven places on merit (no cars in front of him retired, a rarity in Formula One);[111][112] a mechanical retirement at the Styrian Grand Prix after starting the race in 10th place;[113][114] and a 12th-place finish at the British Grand Prix that was derailed by a penalty in qualifying.
Russell at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. He finished 11th, but received praise from Fernando Alonso for his performance.
Most agonisingly, Russell was on course for a points finish at the Austrian Grand Prix after reaching Q3 and starting the race 8th, the team's highest grid position since 2017.[115][116] He was still in 10th place near the end of the race, but after a ten-lap defensive battle, Fernando Alonso passed him with just four laps remaining.[117][118] After the race, Alonso consoled Russell with a hug.[118] The Spaniard ruefully explained that "I was hoping it was anyone but him. ... He will have more opportunities hopefully for podiums or wins in the future."[119]
Success came quickly after that, as Russell scored his first points for Williams just two races later at the Hungarian Grand Prix, charging from 17th on the grid to 8th. Russell shed a tear after reaching the milestone, surprising himself.[120] In the very next race, Russell collected his maiden podium at the Belgian Grand Prix under highly unusual circumstances. He skillfully navigated a rain-affected qualifying session and qualified in second, the first front-row start for Williams since the 2017 Italian Grand Prix.[121] As the weather continued to deteriorate, the stewards opted to run the entire race under safety car conditions, handing Russell his first Formula One podium finish.[122] Russell also scored points at the Italian Grand Prix (9th) and the Russian Grand Prix (10th, after qualifying in 3rd).[123]
Russell finally obtained his long-awaited move to Mercedes in 2022, replacing Valtteri Bottas and joining seven-time World Drivers' Champion Lewis Hamilton.[124] He chose to change his red helmet design to a predominantly black design out of respect for Michael Schumacher.[125] His timing was unfortunate, as his move coincided with a regulation change, and Mercedes was no longer the dominant force in Formula One. In his first race as a full-time Mercedes driver, the Bahrain Grand Prix, Russell qualified ninth and finished fourth.[126]
Russell made the most out of a bad situation, scoring Mercedes' only win of the year and finishing fourth in the Drivers' Championship. Surprisingly, he outscored Hamilton 275-240, although it was said that Hamilton sacrificed performance on track with experimental setups to speed up the Mercedes W13's development curve and get back to championship contention.[127][128] Russell noted that both drivers were subjected equally to Mercedes' experiments, but admitted that Hamilton was willing to take more risks while setting up the car.[129]
Russell's season was not without its high points. He took his first Mercedes podium at the Australian Grand Prix, benefiting from a pit stop during a safety car period to start sixth and finish third.[130] At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Russell took his maiden pole position in Formula One, 0.044 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr.[131] He led much of the race but was later overtaken by Max Verstappen and teammate Hamilton, finishing third. At the São Paulo Grand Prix, Russell won the sprint and feature races to claim his maiden Grand Prix victory and Mercedes' first win of the season.[132][133]
Russell was involved in a first-lap crash at the British Grand Prix involving several drivers. He jumped out of his car to check on Zhou Guanyu, whose car had flipped over the tyre barrier and was resting upside-down against the catch fence. The marshals brought the car back to the pits, which under the rules ended Russell's race.[134][135] In addition, Russell collided with pole-sitter Sainz at the first corner of the United States Grand Prix, receiving a time penalty and causing Sainz's retirement. He later apologised to Sainz. Although he finished fifth, he described the race as his "worst Sunday" of the year.[136]
Russell remained at Mercedes alongside Hamilton for 2023. After finishing seventh at the season-opener Bahrain Grand Prix, he stated the team were "a long way behind" and that Red Bull Racing "should win every single race this season".[137][138] In the end RBR won 21 out of 22 races.
2023 was an exceptionally difficult year for Russell, who finished 8th in the Drivers' Championship, the lowest for a Mercedes driver since 2012. Flipping the script from 2022, Hamilton consistently outdrove him, outscoring him 234-175 for a respectable third-place finish. Russell called his own season "a complete disaster".[139]
Russell committed several mistakes in 2023. At the Spanish Grand Prix, he collided with teammate Hamilton in Q2 and qualified 12th, both drivers blaming a miscommunication.[140] However, the Mercedes cars were very quick on race day and scored a double podium finish, with Hamilton second and Russell third.[141] Russell qualified fourth at the Canadian Grand Prix,[142] but hit the wall on lap 12 and suffered a puncture and a broken front wing, re-joining the race in 19th place. He had recovered to eighth when he retired due to brake wear.[143] At the Singapore Grand Prix, he missed out on pole position by 0.072 seconds and was on pace for a podium, but crashed out from third place on the final lap.[144][145] He was demoted from fourth to eighth at the Las Vegas Grand Prix finish line with a penalty for colliding with Max Verstappen.
In addition, the bold strategy calls that had gone Russell's way in 2022 backfired several times in 2023. At the Australian Grand Prix, Russell qualified second and took the lead from Verstappen at the race start. Following a safety car, Russell opted to pit for new tyres, but the stewards red-flagged the race while Russell was pitting, meaning that Russell had to restart the race in seventh place. He recovered to fourth place before retiring with an engine failure.[146] He qualified third at the Dutch Grand Prix, but lost places due to a late switch to intermediate tyres as rain began to fall. He later recovered to the top ten and was in eighth place at the restart after a red flag, but damage from contact with Lando Norris demoted him back outside the points.[147] Russell, Lance Stroll, and Liam Lawson simultaneously tied Alain Prost's dubious record of 7 pit stops, the most in Formula One history.[148] Russell also took the unusual step of a one-stop strategy at the Japanese Grand Prix (he was the only driver to do so); as his tyres degraded, he dropped from third place to seventh on his final stint.[139]
Russell also suffered from poor luck. He qualified outside the top ten for both the sprint and main race at the Austrian Grand Prix, having reported a hydraulics failure in the sprint shootout. He qualified second at the Qatar Grand Prix but finished fourth after colliding with teammate Hamilton at the first corner, for which Hamilton claimed responsibility.[149]
Russell salvaged a measure of pride with a third-place finish at the season finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, his second podium of the season. His result clinched second place in the Constructors' Championship for Mercedes. He commented that he had "let the side down a couple of times this year", but that it meant "a huge amount" to help the team finish second.[150] Mercedes extended his contract until the end of 2025.[151]
The 2024 season was the final year of the Russell-Hamilton pairing at Mercedes, as Hamilton announced before the season that he would race for Ferrari in 2025. Mercedes got off to a poor start and was already 180 points behind Red Bull in the constructors' championship after Monaco. Mercedes went half the season without a single podium finish for either Russell or Hamilton. However, Russell commented early on that the team was "making progress" with the W15, following a disappointing seventh-place finish at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.[152]
Mercedes's form dramatically improved at midseason, picking up three wins in four races and kicking off a run of six consecutive podium finishes for at least one Mercedes driver. Russell achieved his second career pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix; although Max Verstappen set the same time, Russell won the tiebreaker because he set his time first.[153] He finished third to take Mercedes' first podium of the season.[154] He qualified fourth at the Austrian Grand Prix and took advantage of a late-race collision between Verstappen and Lando Norris to claim his second career victory,[155] Mercedes' first win since São Paulo in 2022. Russell praised the team, saying that the car had "made so many strides since the start of the season".[156] He followed this with another pole position at the British Grand Prix, but fell behind teammate Hamilton and both McLarens as the rain began, before retiring from the race with a water system issue.[157]
Russell finished first on track at the Belgian Grand Prix after completing a one-stop strategy; he pitted on lap 10 of 44 for hard tyres and held off Hamilton and Oscar Piastri, both of whom had made two pit stops.[158] However, following the chequered flag, Russell was disqualified from the race after his car failed to reach the minimum weight requirement, handing Hamilton the victory.[159] Team principal Toto Wolff apologised to Russell, admitting "we have clearly made a mistake".[160] Russell was the first driver to lose a race win to a post-race disqualification since Michael Schumacher lost the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix.[161]
Mercedes' performance fell off after Belgium. At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Russell picked up an unexpected podium after Sergio Pérez collided with Carlos Sainz Jr. with two laps to go, and counseled that "we've got to be realistic" about the current state of the car.[162] At the United States Grand Prix, Russell overcame a finicky car (Russell and Hamilton both spun off track at the same corner that weekend), a pit lane start, and a five-second time penalty to finish sixth.[163][164] At the rain-affected São Paulo Grand Prix, Russell led the first half of the race, but lost his position after Mercedes asked him to pit shortly before the race was red-flagged, and finished fourth.[165]
2025
Following Lewis Hamilton's departure for Ferrari, Mercedes promoted academy driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli to the senior team for 2025.[166]
In March 2021, Russell was appointed as a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), the Formula One drivers' trade union. He replaced Romain Grosjean, who had left Formula One for IndyCar.[167] As a director, Russell's primary role is to relay the paddock's concerns about safety, racing quality, and the junior driver pipeline to the GPDA's full-time personnel.[168]
In March 2022, Russell agreed to lend his name to the GB4 Championship's pole position trophy. The George Russell Pole Position Cup is awarded to the driver who takes the most pole positions that season. Russell had previously won the Jack Cavill Pole Position Cup during his title-winning campaign in BRDC Formula 4 in 2014.[169]
Personal life
Since 2020, Russell has been dating Carmen Montero Mundt, a former business student at the University of Westminster. The couple live together in Monaco. The two were introduced by mutual friends over "dinner and drinks" in London.[170][171]
Russell has been known to be vocal about mental health issues and has often spoken about his own experiences seeing a psychologist to improve his on-track performance and off-track wellbeing.[172]
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. † Did not finish but was classified, as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.
* Season still in progress.
^"BRDC announces 2015 SuperStars". brdc.co.uk. British Racing Drivers' Club. 23 February 2015. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2015. I am particularly delighted to announce five new SuperStars this year and welcome our youngest ever recruit George Russell to the programme...
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