With all the talk of Max Verstappen’s highly impressive season, is the job George Russell is doing in the Mercedes being overlooked? Given the correct equipment, does he look a world champion in the making? – Matt
George Russell has driven an outstanding season, including dominant wins in Canada and Singapore.
There has never been any doubt about Russell’s speed – his qualifying lap at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, when he put a Williams on the front row in the wet, should arguably be considered one of the greatest of all time.
But a couple of years ago there were questions as to whether he was a little error-prone in high-stress situations.
Last year’s Canadian Grand Prix, when everyone felt the Mercedes was the fastest car, but Russell made a couple of mistakes that allowed Max Verstappen to sneak in for the win, was a case in point.
In fact, there was an episode of the Netflix Drive to Survive series covering 2024 dedicated to the question of whether Russell was demonstrating team leadership qualities.
It was, it has to be said, highly dramatised, not least because there was at the time no question about Russell’s future at the team, as he was under contract for 2025, and the episode made it feel as if there was.
This year, Russell has answered those questions emphatically, as team principal Toto Wolff said after Singapore.
“That’s the step-up he has made also this year,” Wolff said. “That these things don’t happen again. He’s been formidable this year. I haven’t seen mistakes.
“There were weekends that he himself said he could have done more and that it wasn’t a good race. But this happens with any driver.
“You can see when it merges the car being in a perfect space and the driver being on top of things. That becomes the dominant formula and that is what we’ve seen here.”
Russell would be close to the top of anyone’s list of best drivers of 2025.
Earlier this year, when there was some question about Verstappen’s future at Red Bull, Russell looked like he might be under threat at the team.
But an announcement confirming a new contract is believed to be imminent.
