Russell

George Russell was born on February 15, 1998, in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, the youngest of three children to Steve and Alison. His father ran a seed and pulses business, which he sold in 2012 to fund his son’s budding racing career. Russell grew up in Tydd St Giles, Wisbech, and Castle Rising, and attended Wisbech Grammar School before switching to homeschooling to free up time for racing.

He first climbed into a kart at age seven, following his older brother Benjy, a competitive karter who won the 2007 Super 1 National Kart Championship in Rotax Max. Russell adopted his permanent number 63 from the kart his brother had once rented. His father would intentionally overstate his lap times to push him to go faster. At 18, Russell moved to Milton Keynes to be closer to his junior racing team.

George Russell’s path to Formula 1 began in karting at age seven, following his brother Benjy, a competitive karter who won the 2007 Super 1 National Championship. By 2012, Russell was European KF3 champion. He moved to single-seaters in 2014, competing in Formula Renault 2.0 Alps (fourth) and the British Formula 4 Championship, which he won by three points over Arjun Maini. That December, he claimed the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, earning a test in the McLaren MP4-26 at Silverstone.

Russell climbed the junior ladder methodically: third in the 2016 FIA Formula 3 European Championship, then GP3 Series champion in 2017, and FIA Formula 2 champion in 2018. The F2 title, secured with seven wins, was the final credential needed. Mercedes, who had signed him to its young driver program in 2017, placed him at Williams for his 2019 F1 debut.

George Russell made his Formula 1 debut in 2019 with Williams, a team then at the back of the grid. Over three seasons, he scored points only once – a remarkable second place at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, where he qualified second in a torrentially wet session and finished just 1.8 seconds behind the winner. That performance, combined with his 2018 FIA Formula 2 championship win, earned him a promotion to Mercedes for 2022, replacing Valtteri Bottas.

In his first season with the Silver Arrows, Russell outscored teammate Lewis Hamilton by 15 points and took his maiden victory at the São Paulo Grand Prix. He added two more wins in 2024 (Austria, Las Vegas) and three in 2025 (Bahrain, Monaco, Mexico), bringing his career total to six victories from 156 starts. He has also secured seven pole positions and 11 fastest laps. As of the end of 2026, Russell had finished third in the drivers’ championship twice (2024, 2025). Despite not yet winning a title, he has established himself as Mercedes’ long-term leader and a consistent front-runner.

Since 2020, Russell has been in a relationship with Carmen Montero Mundt, a Spanish finance manager. The couple, who were introduced by mutual friends in London, made their relationship public during the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix. They reside in Monaco, where Russell moved in 2022.

Within the paddock, his closest friends are fellow drivers Alex Albon, Lando Norris, and Charles Leclerc, friendships forged in karting. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he and Albon streamed racing games on Twitch with Norris and Leclerc. Russell credits Albon with helping him secure a spot in a top karting team, while Albon has noted that Russell campaigned for Williams to give him his vacated seat. He also counts Fernando Alonso as a friend; Alonso has called him a "future world champ."

Outside of Formula One, Russell enjoys padel and free-diving. He is a devoted fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, a passion he shares with his father, a season-ticket holder; Russell was a special guest at Molineux Stadium in 2021. He is also vocal about mental health, working with a psychologist whom he says helps him perform better on track.

At 26, George Russell’s legacy is still being written, but the early chapters are unusually dense for a driver with six Grand Prix victories. He arrived in Formula 1 in 2019 with a junior record that included the GP3 Series and FIA Formula 2 championships back-to-back, a feat that marked him as one of the most complete prospects to emerge from the modern ladder. His 2020 drive for Williams at the Sakhir Grand Prix—where he stepped into Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, led the race, and lost a certain win only to a pit-stop error and a puncture—remains a defining “what if” moment that cemented his reputation as a driver capable of performing at the front. Since moving to Mercedes in 2022, Russell has added seven poles, 26 podiums, and a consistent points-scoring record that has made him the team’s long-term anchor. He has also become a vocal advocate for mental health in motorsport, working openly with a psychologist and speaking about the pressure of elite competition. Whether his legacy will be measured in titles or in the steadiness with which he rebuilt a team in transition will depend on the seasons ahead, but the foundation is already solid.