George Russell

**George William Russell** (born 15 February 1998) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One, contracted to Williams. He was the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Champion for ART and the 2017 GP3 Series Champion. Following his Formula 2 championship win, Russell signed for Williams in 2019, making his début at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix, alongside Robert Kubica. Russell is contracted to drive for Williams until the conclusion of the 2021 season, although he stood in for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix.

## Personal life

Russell was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, to father Steve and mother Alison, the youngest alongside two siblings: a sister, Cara, and an older brother, Benjy. Russell took up karting at the age of 7, having spent much of his time around karting tracks and his brother Benjy, who was also involved in competitive karting. Growing up in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, Russell was educated at the Wisbech Grammar School, before moving to Milton Keynes at the age of 18 to be closer to his racing teams.

Like his father, he is a fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.

## Junior racing career

### Karting

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 Championship, a title he successfully defended in 2012. In his final year of karting in 2013, Russell finished 19th in the KF1 CIK-FIA World Championship.

### Formula Renault 2.0

In 2014, Russell made his single-seater debut, racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship. He originally signed to race for Prema Powerteam, before making a last-minute switch to Koiranen GP. Despite missing a round through illness, he finished fourth in the championship, taking a single podium finish at the Red Bull Ring.

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.

### Formula 4

In 2014, Russell also competed in the BRDC Formula 4 Championship with defending champions Lanan Racing. 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. After starting from pole position, Russell won the race, his fifth of the season, to clinch the title by just three points from Maini.

As a prize for winning the BRDC Formula 4 championship, Russell tested a GP3 car with Arden Motorsport at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. In December 2014, Russell became the youngest-ever winner of the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, beating fellow finalists Alexander Albon, Ben Barnicoat, Sennan Fielding, Seb Morris and Harrison Scott to earn himself a £100,000 cash prize, British Racing Drivers' Club membership and a Formula One test with McLaren.

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.

### FIA Formula 3 European Championship

Russell competing at Spa during the 2015 FIA Formula 3 European Championship
Russell graduated to Formula Three in 2015, racing in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with Carlin. He took his first race victory in the opening round of the season at Silverstone, finishing ahead of fellow debutant Charles Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi in the second race of the weekend. He took a further two podium places at Spa-Francorchamps and the Norisring to finish sixth in the championship. He also finished as runner-up to Leclerc in the rookie championship standings.

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, he went on to finish second behind teammate Antonio Giovinazzi in the main race. 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.

Russell switched to Hitech GP for the 2016 season, scored two victories and finished third in the standings.

### GP3 Series

Russell signed with ART Grand Prix for the 2017 GP3 Series season. He had previously driven for the team at the post-season test at Yas Marina in November 2016.

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. 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.
George Russell on 26 August 2017 at Spa-Francorchamps
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.

The next round at Monza saw only one GP3 Series event take place after adverse weather conditions resulting into the Saturday Race being cancelled. Russell won a titanic tussle with his ART Grand Prix teammates Jack Aitken and Anthoine Hubert to seal his fourth victory of the season.

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.

### FIA Formula 2 Championship

Russell on the podium alongside Lando Norris (left) and Antonio Fuoco (right) after winning the 2018 Spielberg Formula 2 round
Russell at the 2018 Silverstone Formula 2 round

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.

## Formula One

In early 2017, Russell joined Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport as a part of their junior driver programme. It was announced that Russell would take part in both days of the Budapest test on the 1–2 August, which followed the Formula One World Championship and support series races at the same circuit from the weekend before. In November the same year it was announced that Russell would make his Formula One practice debut at the Brazilian Grand Prix driving in the first practice session for Force India. Subsequently, it was announced that he would also drive for them in the first practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Russell was announced as one of the Pirelli Tyre Test Drivers for Force India at the post-Spanish Grand Prix test in May 2018. He completed 123 laps for the team at the test, his first in a Formula One car with 2018 specifications.

### Williams (2019–)

#### 2019 season

On 13 October 2018, it was announced that Russell had signed a multi-year deal to drive for the Williams team, being partnered with Robert Kubica for the 2019 season. The team struggled during the season, with the Williams FW42 being the slowest car of the field. As a result, Russell's competition during races was often only his teammate. He began to show signs of competition when battling with the Toro Rosso of Alex Albon during the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix.[*citation needed*] At the rain-affected German Grand Prix, Russell crossed the line in 13th place before being promoted to 11th after the Alfa Romeo drivers were penalised post-race for using driver aids. He narrowly missed out on scoring his maiden point in Formula One, having been overtaken by Kubica in the closing laps.

The first retirement of Russell's career came in Singapore when he was tagged by Romain Grosjean during an overtake attempt by the Haas driver, sending Russell into a wall. He then retired again from the following race in Russia after suffering a wheel nut issue. The chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix provided one of the few opportunities of Russell's debut season to race other cars, where a late safety car allowed him to finish in 12th place, just 1.5 seconds behind a points-scoring position.

Russell ended the season in 20th place in the championship, being the only driver not to score a point.

#### 2020 season

Russell continued driving for Williams in 2020, partnered by former competitor and 2019 Formula 2 runner-up Nicholas Latifi. He retired from the opening race in Austria from a loss of fuel pressure. For the Styrian Grand Prix Russell started the race in 11th after a wet qualifying, beating his previous best qualifying position of 14th. An early trip to the gravel effectively ended Russell's chances at points, and he finished 16th with both Williams drivers struggling for race pace.
George Russell at the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix, a race in which he finished 11th
Russell crashed out of the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix after a stray wheel from Antonio Giovinazzi's car hit his Williams. At the Tuscan Grand Prix, Russell started 18th but ran in the points positions for most of the race aided by a higher than normal attrition rate. He ran in ninth place prior to the second red flag period, but suffered a poor restart, dropping back to 12th and last. Despite passing Romain Grosjean, he was ultimately unable to progress further up the order, finishing 11th. For the Russian Grand Prix Russell qualified in 14th place, marking his sixth Q2 appearance of the season. He crashed out while running in the points at the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, when he made a mistake and crashed on his own while following the safety car.

Mercedes stand-in
Russell stood in for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, following a positive coronavirus test result for Hamilton. Russell stated in the pre-event press conference he felt "no pressure", following Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff's expectation that the car would finish in the top five. Russell qualified for second position on the front row for the race start, narrowly missing out on pole to teammate Valtteri Bottas by 26 milliseconds. Russell took early control from the race start and led most of the race, but with 20 laps remaining, Mercedes team mechanics fitted Bottas' front tyres on Russell's car, causing him to have to re-pit on the next lap to correct the error. He then suffered a slow puncture ten laps before the finish and was forced to pit again. Russell finished in ninth place and earned his first three World Championship points, two points for ninth and one for the fastest lap. Russell was praised by the media and the Mercedes team for his Sakhir performance. Hamilton returned to Mercedes and Russell to Williams from the Friday.

Return to Williams
Russell returned to Williams in time for practice at the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Following Friday practice, Russell said returning to Williams for this event was a "strange feeling", having competed in the faster Mercedes the week before. For the event Russell wore a special helmet as a tribute to Frank Williams and Claire Williams, both of whom left Formula One after the 2020 Italian Grand Prix. Russell qualified 18th ahead of Pietro Fittipaldi and teammate Nicholas Latifi after struggling with tyre management during the session, and ultimately finished the race in 15th.

#### 2021 season

Russell was retained at Williams for the 2021 season, alongside Latifi. At the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, he collided with Valtteri Bottas after driving on to a wet patch and losing control of his car during an overtaking attempt, causing both cars to retire and prompting a red flag, although Russell initially blamed the incident on Bottas accusing the Finnish driver of 'trying to kill him'. Russell later retracted his claims and apologised to Bottas, his Williams team and those he perceived to have 'let down'.

## Other activities

In March 2021 Russell was appointed as a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association replacing previous incumbent Romain Grosjean, who stepped down following his departure from Formula One to Indycar.