On September 7th, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team announced it would officially let go of Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas and replace him with British phenom George Russell. Formula One, unlike popular American sports leagues like the NFL or NBA, does not formally publish contract details with drivers. The team did confirm, however, that it was a “long-term” deal which would keep him on the team for next season and beyond.
Fellow B-Line writer and avid Formula One fan Vineeth Mothe (‘22) commented, “To be honest I will miss Bottas. But at the same time, I am so excited to see a young driver with unlimited potential challenge Lewis Hamilton next season, and I genuinely cannot wait to watch.”
Following the news, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said, “He has been a winner in every racing category – and the past three seasons with Williams have given us a taste of what the future could hold for him in F1. Now, it is our challenge together to help him continue learning within our environment and alongside Lewis, the greatest F1 driver of all time. I am confident that as their relationship grows, they will form a strong team and deliver for Mercedes on and off the track in the years ahead.”
Russell, 23, was born in Norfolk, England. Ever since the age of eight, Russell has competed full-time in racing. Between the ages of eight and fifteen, Russell won four world championships in his racing class. At the age of only seventeen, Russell was recruited into the British Racing Drivers’ Club SuperStars program, making him the youngest ever driver to be brought in. Since his stint began as a racing driver at that very early age, Russell has won seven formal championships in his respective divisions.
Throughout his career, Russell has been one of the most hyped-up drivers in recent memory. His resume is riddled with impressive feats. In 2017, the Mercedes F1 team signed Russell into their young driver program. This made him the youngest driver to participate in the program for the team. Mercedes, after dominating the last nine years of Formula One racing, is much more selective with its young driver program than the wide array of other junior programs run by motorsport teams.
Russell followed this groundbreaking record up by winning the FIA F2 World championship in 2018, his biggest career championship win. This win came at the expense of his two toughest competitors, Alex Albon and Lando Norris. This championship win by Russell is by far the most impressive of his career since Albon and Norris are now both racing in Formula One and racing at an extremely high level.
After winning the F2 Championship in 2018, Russell took on a seat in Formula One the following year with Williams F1. Despite historically being one of the best teams in the sport, Williams has struggled intensely as of late, especially financially. Because of this, they had to seek financial shelter with somebody with the Daimler Corporation, the group that owns Mercedes, in order to stay in the sport. Since Russell was in the Mercedes program, he would not have contractually been able to race for another unaffiliated team. But since now Williams was tied in with Mercedes, Russell could race with no issue.
It is at Williams where Russell has raced the last two years and for the remainder of the 2021 season. The announcement of his move to Mercedes comes on the heels of two incredibly impressive performances. In the Hungarian Grand Prix, Russell scored points alongside teammate Nicholas Latifi. In the subsequent rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix, George Russell put in one of the best Formula One performances of all time, taking 2nd position in qualifying and then a subsequent 2nd place finish in the race. This was the team’s first podium finish in four years and put him ahead of 12+ cars that are objectively faster and easier to drive.
Russell will pair up with universally agreed-upon top five driver of all time and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. The duo makes up an age gap of 14 years (since Hamilton is 37), the largest gap between two teammates in the sport. The expectations for the team and Russell himself going into next year will be astronomical, but if Russell has proved anything in his life, it is that he can live up to the hype.
