Ever since the turn of the ground-effects era of the sport, Mercedes has been struggling to find its feet at the sharp end of the field. That said, for the last three seasons, the Brackley-based squad has enjoyed sporadic success.
However, every time the Silver Arrows have been at the front, it has almost always been thanks to George Russell. After a promising junior career and stint with Williams in F1, Russell was promoted to Mercedes by Toto Wolff at the beginning of the 2022 season.
With pole position for the 2024 Las Vegas GP in the Briton’s bag, the Silver Arrows have now secured five pole positions since the 2022 season. Four out of those five poles are thanks to Russell. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has only managed to register a solitary pole position for the team during this time at the 2023 Hungarian GP.
George Russell has now been responsible for 4 of Mercedes’ 5 poles since he joined the team in 2022.
2024 Las Vegas
2024 Silverstone
2024 Montreal
2022 Hungary pic.twitter.com/021gRSs6j4— Daniel Valente ️ (@F1GuyDan) November 23, 2024
Three of these pole positions have come this year for the #63 driver. However, his record of converting his Qualifying performances into a race win hasn’t been the best. At the British GP earlier this season, he lost out the win to his teammate Hamilton.
This year, the Canadian GP was another race in which Russell secured pole position. On that occasion as well, he failed to convert it into a race win as he was passed by both Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Going into the Grand Prix on Sunday on the iconic Las Vegas strip, Russell is keen to finally convert his pole into a race win. “To get pole is incredible but ultimately we have had a few good qualifyings and need to convert it,” he told the media after the session.
Russell will start the race ahead of the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly. Meanwhile, Hamilton, in the other Mercedes, will start all the way down from 10th.
