George Russell steps up to the big leagues this year as new teammate to seven-time F1 World Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton. We spoke with Mercedes’ driver development advisor GWEN LAGRUE, who strategised Russell’s swift rise to the top, about the sport’s next big thing and the road ahead…
What immediately struck you about George Russell when you first met him back in 2010?
Gwen Lagrue (GL): For me, of course, apart from the pure talent, because that’s the first thing you can see from all these kids, but especially from George. It was very, very apparent in his case. He was extremely mature and the confidence definitely set him from all the others at that age. When you are 13 or 14 years old you are not always really confident in yourself. And he was very clever also in the way he was racing. He didn’t always have the best equipment, but he was always clever enough to do something special with it and extract the most of what he had in his hands.
What were your thoughts on the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, in which he stood in for a COVID-affected Sir Lewis Hamilton? He almost won on his Mercedes debut!
GL: Well, first, of course, it was a last-minute call. But, in a way, it was why we were all together for so many years. To one day have this opportunity and one day to drive for Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team. And from F2, I would say he could have jumped in a car at anytime, and he had to be ready for that. So probably he was much more ready end of 2020 than 2018 when he was racing in F2. But, it was ‘ok, now we have a meeting with ourselves, and that’s when we have to show that we are ready’, even if it was a young driver program, it was an important moment because in this kind of occasion you can’t fail. So I think he answered perfectly. He was ready for that. I think he has shown to everyone how much ready he was. But, of course, you can always improve something, you can always do something better. He knows it, and we all know it. Even if you ask Lewis today, even being a multi world champion, he says I didn’t do enough on this on this weekend, or so much this season. I have something I can do better, etcetera. And it was the same for George, he did a good job, he did super well, but there is always something you can do better. So you are always learning.
What do you think he’s truly capable of? What’s your vision for him over the next few years? Is he the natural successor to Sir Lewis Hamilton?
GL: Well, for me, first, I don’t like really to compare – Lewis is Lewis, and George is George, and they arrived in F1 at a different period of time. And it was a different generation. Lewis had the opportunity to race against guys like Michael [Schumacher], etcetera, which is not George’s case. George is George, and Lewis is Lewis, and everyone is having his own way, let’s say. For me, what is really good for George is that he will have the opportunity to be a teammate with a World Champion, and that is something unique in your career. It’s a privilege, and it’s a perfect situation for him because he will learn so much. And it will of course be a challenge. And we as a team believe that with Lewis and George we have a super and fantastic duo and our target is to prepare him for the future as George Russell not as the successor of Lewis Hamilton.
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