With all of the speak of Max Verstappen’s extremely spectacular season, is the job George Russell is doing within the Mercedes being neglected? Given the proper gear, does he look a world champion within the making? – Matt
George Russell has pushed an impressive season, together with dominant wins in Canada and Singapore.
There has by no means been any doubt about Russell’s velocity – his qualifying lap on the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, when he put a Williams on the entrance row within the moist, ought to arguably be thought-about one of many best of all time.
However a few years in the past there have been questions as as to if he was just a little error-prone in high-stress conditions.
Final yr’s Canadian Grand Prix, when everybody felt the Mercedes was the quickest automobile, however Russell made a few errors that allowed Max Verstappen to sneak in for the win, was a living proof.
The truth is, there was an episode of the Netflix Drive to Survive sequence masking 2024 devoted to the query of whether or not Russell was demonstrating staff management qualities.
It was, it needs to be stated, extremely dramatised, not least as a result of there was on the time no query about Russell’s future on the staff, as he was below contract for 2025, and the episode made it really feel as if there was.
This yr, Russell has answered these questions emphatically, as staff principal Toto Wolff stated after Singapore.
“That is the step-up he has made additionally this yr,” Wolff stated. “That these items do not occur once more. He is been formidable this yr. I have not seen errors.
“There have been weekends that he himself stated he might have carried out extra and that it wasn’t an excellent race. However this occurs with any driver.
“You’ll be able to see when it merges the automobile being in an ideal area and the driving force being up to the mark. That turns into the dominant method and that’s what we have seen right here.”
Russell could be near the highest of anybody’s checklist of finest drivers of 2025.
Earlier this yr, when there was some query about Verstappen’s future at Crimson Bull, Russell appeared like he could be below menace on the staff.
However an announcement confirming a brand new contract is believed to be imminent.
