This team – the Silver Arrows – have their work out for them with stiff competition in the form of a resurgent Red Bull, and a competitive Ferrari. That’s all without factoring in recent performance issues in Mercedes’ car design approach since the 2022 ground-effect rule reset.
Taking a championship in 2023 already seems unlikely, with OddsChecker – which compares odds on F1 and provides a range of offers – favouring two time defending champion Max Verstappen for a hat-trick.
Yet despite setbacks, many see in Russell a future world champion – but where did he get his start, and how did he end up as number two driver to the most successful F1 driver in history? Let’s explore this and much more below.
Early Years
Russell was born in King’s Lynn in England on the 15th of February, 1998, making him 25 years old at the time of writing.
Education
Russell studied at Wisbech Grammar School up to the age of 18 – following this, he moved to Milton Keynes to be closer to the famous ‘Motorsport Valley’ – a corridor of land in central England that plays home to a number of F1 teams including Williams, Alpine, Aston Martin, Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull.
Junior Motorsport Career
Like many future F1 drivers, he got started early in the world of professional karting at the age of 7, in 2006. His aptitude was apparent from this early age, and in 2009 he became both the British Open champion and the MSA British champion. By 2011, Russell was racing KF3 class karts in which he became, and defended, a CIK-FIA European Championship title.
Following this, Russell began his open wheel career in earnest with wins in Formula Renault and F4. He then made the jump to F3 in 2015, where he picked up further victories that got him a seat in F2. In 2018, he successfully beat out now rival McLaren driver Lando Norris to win the FIA Formula 2 Championship.
F1
Russell’s performance in junior series had made him a hot property on the grid, and it was eventually Mercedes that won out by signing him to their junior driver program. In this capacity, Russell was effectively guaranteed a seat at the Silver Arrows in the coming years. In the meantime, he began his rookie F1 career in earnest in 2019 at Mercedes engine partner and backmarker team, Williams.
While at Williams, Russell further impressed in 2021 with some dazzling driving that resulted in him gaining their first podium since 2017. Other notable events in his early F1 career include Russell substituting Hamilton at Mercedes for a race at the 2020 Sakhir GP in which he qualified on pole.
In 2022, Russell was finally called up to join Mercedes, replacing Valtteri Bottas who had moved to Alfa Romeo. Russell put in a string of impressive performances that resulted in him frequently out qualifying and racing Lewis Hamilton. He also took the team’s only victory that year in the Brazil GP.
Net Worth
George Russell’s net worth is thought to be at around £13 million, or $16 million.
