Biography of Formula 1 driver George Russell

George Russell began his professional karting career at the age of 8 and went on to pick up a host of titles both within Britain and in mainland Europe, winning back to back European Karting Titles in 2011 and 2012, which ultimately proved to be the highlight of his karting career.

In 2014, Russell made the transition into cars and would taste success immediately. While his Formula Renault 2.0 campaign would see him finish fourth overall in the standings with one podium, he would go on to win the BRDC Formula 4 Championship claiming the title in the final round after a season-long battle with his teammate.

Russell won the 2014 McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award in 2014, beating ex-Red Bull Racing driver Alex Albon.

Russell would then spend two years in the European Formula 3 Championship, finishing sixth and third in the championship, respectively.

While he was no doubt highly rated by those within the sport, Russell’s breakthrough campaign would come in the 2017 GP3 Championship. Driving for ART Grand Prix the Englishman would go on to win the title in his maiden year in the series taking four wins and three further second places, 2017 would also see him join the prestigious Mercedes Young Driver program and he would make his Formula One testing debut with the Force India Formula 1 team.

The 2018 season would see Russell become the official test and reserve driver for the Mercedes Formula 1 team. He would simultaneously go on to repeat his successes from the previous year, winning the Formula 2 championship comfortably with seven wins and eleven further podiums once again racing for ART Grand Prix.

George Russell in Formula 1

His relentless success in the junior categories would ultimately lead to Russell making his Formula 1 debut with the Williams Racing Team. Despite the team’s poor performance on the racetrack, Russell consistently out-qualified his teammates, Robert Kubica and Nicholas Latifi, over a two-year period with his best result being eleventh for the team on two occasions.

His watershed moment came when he substituted for Lewis Hamilton during 2020’s Sakhir Grand Prix. Competing in a one-off race for the Mercedes Formula 1 team, Russell would start from second and make a clean getaway beating his teammate for the weekend Valteri Bottas off the line. He would then lead a majority of the race until a botched pitstop and a puncture would drop him down to ninth overall in the race.

Despite this, Russell has shown both the Mercedes team and the world what he is capable of and it is a question of when, rather than if, Russell will make the switch to Mercedes.

The Briton is also one of the most highly regarded young drivers on the grid with many expecting him to pick up the mantle from Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes’ lead driver when the seven-time champion does decide to retire.