George Russell turns 27: Career highlights

First points for Williams

In 2021, George Russell begins his third season with a British team in great difficulty. She only fought for the last places, struggling to make a difference and get into the middle of the pack... until the Hungarian Grand Prix. At the end of a crazy race, won by Esteban Ocon and his Alpine, another extraordinary success lurks further down the grid. George Russell pockets the two meager points for 9th place, which for the driver represents years of work. Ahead of him, his team-mate Nicholas latifi also offers points to the team of Whole grained thanks to its 7th position.

Russell finishes his race and, once in the interview room, bursts into tears after a “ day full of emotions ": " So happy for everyone on the team, he declares on his Twitter account. After two and a half years of hard work, we are rewarded. »

We're all with you, @ GeorgeRussell63!! 🥺

🎥 x Duna TV#HungarianGP (I.e. #F1 pic.twitter.com/GK8jKArzYG

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2021

George Russell's first podium

Here again, Russell shines in a weekend of racing with difficult conditions… which represents a bad memory for those who watched Formula 1 on TV. On the Spa-Francorchamps track (Belgium) torrential rain falls all day Sunday. The day before, the soaked track had already given several drivers a fright. The qualifying session is delayed by a quarter of an hour before being stopped between Q2 and Q3, as the track is so impassable. Max Verstappen slips through the raindrops to secure another pole position, but it's Russell who steals the show. By setting the second fastest time, he puts his Williams on the front row.

An unexpected feat, which will be rewarded by the absence of a race the next day... or almost. The cars will only do one lap behind the safety car, thus freezing the positions on Saturday and winning half of the points. The Briton thus climbs onto the podium and offers 9 points to his team.

© Antonin Vincent / DPPI

Lewis Hamilton's replacement

Before being made official as a regular driver for the German team, Russell had already taken the wheel of a Mercedes covered in black on the Sakhir circuit. The cause: a Lewis Hamilton positive for Covid-19, which he will replace at short notice. And the pilot attacks straight away, an express adaptation to the car gave him the two best times in the first free practice sessions. He moved to 26 thousandths of a second from pole position in qualifying, thanks to his teammate from the weekend Valtteri Bottas. But the Briton regained his first place in just a few metres from the start. For the first time, he found himself leading a Formula 1 Grand Prix…

…And only just missed a win. During a rare misunderstanding at Mercedes, Russell's car was fitted with the tyres intended for Bottas. He then returned to the pits to avoid a penalty, and returned to the track to perform a sublime overtake on his team-mate and begin a spectacular comeback. But he would not deprive Pérez of his first career victory, a slow puncture forcing him to take the pit lane again.

This first Grand Prix in black saw him finish 9th. Despite the disappointment, Russell had planted the first seed of an arrival at Mercedes.

Pole position signed in Hungary

The young Briton's first season at Mercedes was perhaps not what he had hoped for. The turn of the 2022 regulations was poorly negotiated for the first garage in the paddock, and a W13 that was nevertheless daring struggled to reveal its full potential. But George Russell somehow managed to pull through, notably getting the better of his experienced teammate Lewis Hamilton.

The Hungaroring route was not to suit the Mercedes. This is why George Russell took pole during qualifying, the first of his career, after a crazy session. Carlos Sainz offered himself a first place on the grid, the Spaniard thinking he had done the hard part by outclassing his teammate. But that was without counting on the Briton. In 1'17”377, synonymous with a stratospheric lap, he snatched pole position from the driver Ferrari, unlocking its own counter. At the top of the timesheet, he sticks 7 tenths to Lewis Hamilton who starts on the fourth row.

But impossible to convert this good result into victory. Red Bull uses an impeccable strategy to secure a new victory with Max Verstappen ahead of Lewis Hamilton and… George Russell.

George Russell's first pole position at the Hungaroring. ©Joao Filipe / DPPI

A first victory in Brazil

It was at the Brazilian Grand Prix that Russell achieved the feat. After crashing his car into the gravel in qualifying, thus ending a session dominated by the Haas de Kevin Magnussen, thus securing second place on the grid for the Sprint Race, the result of which at the time defined the grid for the Grand Prix.

Unsurprisingly, George Russell had no trouble beating the Dane on Saturday before signing his first masterpiece in a Sunday race led masterfully and almost from start to finish to allow Mercedes to secure a 125th victory and a 59th one-two thanks to Lewis Hamilton's second place.

© DPPI

Back on the top step of the podium

After a difficult 2023 season, during which Mercedes could do nothing against the supremacy of Red Bull, George Russell has found his strength again in 2024. But there again, the opportunities have been few and far between. But when they have presented themselves to him, the Englishman has been sharp.

He first watched from afar the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in Austria hoping that it would end in a collision. Bingo! The Dutchman and the Englishman couldn't avoid it and Russell took advantage to slip past them and claim his first victory in over a year and a half!

Finally, Las Vegas was the scene of one of his finest performances in F1. There, the Mercedes driver came across an almost untouchable W15. The day after his 4th career pole position, he imposed himself as boss to offer himself the 3rd Sunday success.

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