page_title: George Russell (racing driver)
section_title: FIA Formula 2 Championship
hierarchical_section_title: George Russell (racing driver) / Junior racing career / FIA Formula 2 Championship
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: 08 George Russell beim Rennwochenende in Österreich 2018 (4)
context_page_description: George William Russell is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One, under the British flag, for Williams. He was the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Champion for ART and the 2017 GP3 Series Champion.
context_section_description: In January 2018 Russell was confirmed as a driver for ART Grand Prix for the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship, which would see the new Dallara F2 2018 make its debut in the expanding 12-race calendar. He was also confirmed as the Mercedes' reserve driver, sharing duties with Pascal Wehrlein the following month.
  Russell qualified in 2nd position on debut at Bahrain, finishing 5th in the opening round of the championship.
  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. 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.
  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. He followed that up with 4th in the sprint race to move up to 2nd in the championship standings.
  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. He led a wet / dry challenging race from lights-to-flag and took his third victory of the season and the championship.
  He would later go on to win the title with victory in the feature race at Abu Dhabi after a season long fight with fellow Brit Lando Norris.
caption: Russell competing at the Red Bull Ring during the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 550D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2018:07:07 18:11:41", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "204", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "8056", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6140", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1250", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:06:29 17:13:47", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:06:29 17:13:47", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "83/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "220", "EXIF SubSecTime": "83", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "83", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "83", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2816", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2112", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "7932", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1036800/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "691200/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}