George Russell

George Russell early career

George Russell, born in the city of King's Lynn in Norfolk, started karting at the age of eight and advanced to the cadet class in 2009, where he would later become MSA British champion and British Open champion.

In 2010, he added the Super One British Championship to his list of honors, as well as the Formula Kart Starts British series. For a year, he competed in the KF3 class, securing the SKUSA Supernationals title and the CIK-FIA European championship in both 2011 and 2012. In his final year of karting, he finished 19th in the KF1 CIK FIA World Championship.

In 2014, he made his debut in single-seaters, participating in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Championship. He raced for the Koiranen GP team, finishing fourth in the standings and scoring one podium at the Red Bull Ring. He then competed in two rounds of the Eurocup Formula 4 Championship, winning the final round in Jerez as a guest participant.

Later that year, Russell joined the BRDC Formula 4 Championship with defending champion Lanan Racing. He won the series by just three points over team-mate Arjun Maini, securing pole and victory in the final race of the season.

One of the prizes for winning the prestigious junior series was an opportunity to test a GP3 car, which he did at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. In December 2014, Russell became the youngest winner of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, pipping Alex Albon.

Over the next three seasons, Russell would compete in the GP3 series and the European Formula 3 Championship. During his time in F3, the young Brit achieved three victories over two seasons, finishing his first campaign second in the rookie standings behind Charles Leclerc.

For 2017, GP3 would be Russell's sole focus after signing with the impressive ART team. He had a solid start to the season, securing his first win during the second race weekend in Austria.

He then scored back-to-back pole positions at his home circuit of Silverstone, converting one into a race victory. Wins in Spa and Monza quickly followed as Russell built a significant lead in the championship. He ultimately sealed the series title in Jerez with a race weekend to spare.

This strong run of form resulted in Russell being given two first practice outings in F1 with the Force India team, in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

In 2018, again with ART, Russell added the F2 title to his roll of honour, winning three sprints and four feature races en route, comfortably beating Lando Norris into second place by 86 points.

Three difficult years with Williams

His stellar performances in the junior ranks earned Russell an F1 seat for the 2019 season, where he would be paired alongside Robert Kubica at Williams on a multi-year deal.

The move to the Grove-based squad was facilitated in part by the team's partnership with engine provider Mercedes, given Russell's position as one of its junior drivers.

The three years with Williams proved to be incredibly tough, with his rookie campaign the hardest as he was the only driver who finished the season without a point to his name, with his best result 11th in the German Grand Prix.

In the Covid-hit 2020 season, Russell had to wait until the penultimate race, and the 37th overall in his F1 career, to finally score points, albeit doing so in a Mercedes after replacing the Covid-hit Lewis Hamilton.

In qualifying, Russell missed out on pole position to team-mate Valtteri Bottas by less than a tenth of a second. In the race, Russell got the better of Bottas and led into the first corner.

Poised to win, a pit stop blunder proved his undoing. With 20 laps remaining, the Mercedes mechanics fitted Bottas' front tyres to Russell's car, leading to him pitting again on the next lap to correct the error. 

This was compounded by his picking up a slow puncture soon after, forcing him into another pit stop. Russell eventually finished ninth, but it was a case of what might have been as the win was there for the taking.

In 2021, the first 10 races with Williams were again pointless, until finally, at the next race in Hungary, he finally broke his Williams points duck by finishing eighth.

Russell immediately followed that up with his first podium, albeit in remarkable circumstances, as he qualified second in the best of the rain-hit conditions. Ninth in Italy and 10th in Russia followed soon after, allowing him to finish 15th in the standings, with 16 points to his name.

Stepping up to Mercedes

After three years of running near the back of the field, Russell finally had the chance to compete further up the grid in 2022 when he partnered Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

However, with the cars running to a new set of aerodynamic regulations, the Silver Arrows caused a shock when it proved to be off the pace as the season got underway in Bahrain. Struggles with issues such as porpoising on the W13 car left Russell and Hamilton unable to match Red Bull and Ferrari.

Despite this, Russell claimed a surprise first podium for the team at the third race of the season in Australia, and managed to consecutively finish in the points for the first nine events of the campaign, including additional third-place finishes in Spain and Azerbaijan.

That run was halted following a frightening crash with Zhou Guanyu on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix, which proved to be his only DNF of the year.

He went on to score a further four podiums before claiming an emotional debut victory in F1 at the penultimate race of the season in Brazil, leading Hamilton home in a 1-2 result, and helping him to fourth place in the standings.

The following years with Mercedes

The 2023 season proved to be far leaner for Russell and Mercedes as the team continued to struggle with its car concept.

Alongside four retirements, including a crash on the final lap of the Singapore GP when pushing Lando Norris for second, Russell only achieved two podiums - third in Spain, and again in the final race in Abu Dhabi - leading to a slide to eighth in the standings.

The start to 2024 was just as difficult, in terms of performance and results, and it was not until the ninth race in Canada that the Briton finally landed a podium again, taking third in a close-run battle, finishing four seconds behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Two races later, Russell ended an 18-month, 33 grand prix drought without a win when he triumphed in Austria, capitalising on a collision between the leading duo, Verstappen and Norris.

He took the chequered flag again before the summer break in Belgium, only to be disqualified for failing to meet the minimum weight requirement. He at least tasted success one more time before the end of the season, with victory ahead of team-mate Hamilton in Las Vegas.

It proved to be the last time the duo stood on the podium together, as at the end of the season, Hamilton departed Mercedes to join Ferrari, a decision that had been announced before the campaign had commenced.

That left Mercedes searching for a replacement throughout 2024, eventually turning to another of its junior drivers, Kimi Antonelli, to partner with Russell in 2025.

It was a season that proved to be Russell's most successful in F1 as he claimed wins in Canada and Singapore, along with a further seven podiums, en route to fourth place in the standings, and a career-high 319 points.

For 2026, Russell will again partner with Antonelli