George Russell

George William Russell (born 15 February 1998) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes.

Russell began karting in 2006 and progressed through to the cadet class by 2009, becoming MSA British champion and British Open champion.

In 2010 he moved to the Rotax Mini Max category where he became Super One British champion, Formula Kart Stars British champion, and also won the Kartmasters British Grand Prix.

Russell graduated to the KF3 class in 2011, winning the SKUSA Supernationals title and becoming CIK-FIA European Champion, a title he successfully defended in 2012.

After winning several karting championships including the CIK-FIA European Karting Championship in 2012, he repeated his success by becoming the Formula 2 champion and the 2017 GP3 Series champion, driving for ART in both campaigns to become one of only three drivers to win both championships in his respective rookie seasons.

In his final year of karting in 2013, Russell finished 19th in the KF1 CIK-FIA World Championship.

In 2014, Russell made his single-seater debut, racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship.

He originally signed to race for Prema Powerteam, before making a last-minute switch to Koiranen GP.

Despite missing a round through illness, he finished fourth in the championship, taking a single podium finish at the Red Bull Ring.

Russell also contested two rounds of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship.

He took part in the Moscow round with Koiranen GP before switching to Tech 1 Racing for the final round of the season at Jerez.

Racing as a guest entrant, he won the final race of the season after starting from pole position.

In 2014, Russell also competed in the BRDC Formula 4 Championship with defending champions Lanan Racing.

He entered the final race of the season at Snetterton in a four-way title battle with teammate Arjun Maini and the HHC Motorsport pairing of Sennan Fielding and Raoul Hyman.

After starting from pole position, Russell won the race, his fifth of the season, to clinch the title by just three points from Maini.

As a prize for winning the BRDC Formula 4 championship, Russell tested a GP3 car with Arden Motorsport at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

In December 2014, Russell became the youngest-ever winner of the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, beating fellow finalists Alexander Albon, Ben Barnicoat, Sennan Fielding, Seb Morris and Harrison Scott to earn himself a £100,000 cash prize, British Racing Drivers' Club membership and a Formula One test with McLaren.

In February 2015, Russell was announced as one of the twelve drivers selected to join the British Racing Drivers' Club SuperStars programme, the youngest-ever recruit to the scheme.

Russell graduated to Formula Three in 2015, racing in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with Carlin.

He took his first race victory in the opening round of the season at Silverstone, finishing ahead of fellow debutant Charles Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi in the second race of the weekend.

He took a further two podium places at Spa-Francorchamps and the Norisring to finish sixth in the championship.

He also finished as runner-up to Leclerc in the rookie championship standings.

In September 2015, Russell took part in the Masters of Formula 3 non-championship event held at Zandvoort.

After finishing fourth in the qualification race, he went on to finish second behind teammate Antonio Giovinazzi in the main race.

Russell was also scheduled to compete in the Macau Grand Prix with Carlin, but was replaced by Japanese Euroformula Open Championship driver Yu Kanamaru shortly before the event.

Russell switched to Hitech GP for the 2016 season, scored two victories, and finished third in the standings.

Russell signed with ART Grand Prix for the 2017 GP3 Series season.

He previously raced for Williams from 2019 to 2021.

Following his Formula 2 championship win, Russell signed for Williams in, making his debut at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix.

He stood in for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, but was denied a Grand Prix victory due to strategic errors.

In 2022, Russell departed Williams to race for the Mercedes team, having been a member of the Mercedes Junior Driver Programme since 2017.

Russell achieved his first F1 victory at the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix.

As of the, Russell has achieved victory, pole position, fastest laps and podium finishes in his career.

Russell agreed to drive for Mercedes on a multi-year deal, without giving any detailed information about the contract length.

Russell was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, to father Steve and mother Alison, the youngest alongside two siblings: a sister, Cara, and an older brother, Benjy.

Russell took up karting at the age of 7, having spent much of his time around karting tracks and his brother Benjy, who was also involved in competitive karting.

Russell attributes his brother as the reason for using the number 63 as his permanent race number in Formula One.

Growing up in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, Russell was educated at the Wisbech Grammar School, before moving to Milton Keynes at the age of 18 to be closer to his racing teams.

Since 2022, Russell has been living in Monaco.

Like his father, he is a fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.