George Russell is one the brightest talents in F1 and has been in the Mercedes ranks for a long time now. He spent the first three years in F1 with Williams but earned his dream move to the Silver Arrows in 2022. However, if Mercedes’ boss Toto Wolff hadn’t replied to Russell’s email back in 2014, things would have been very different.
Back in his junior Formula career, Russell was struggling to find recognition. He was well known in the junior circuit but was craving for an opportunity from a big F1 team. In an interview with High Performance on YouTube, the Brit spoke about how he almost gave up on his dream. He had just won the British F4 Title but was yet to hear from an F1 team.
Debut season with @MercedesAMGF1 complete. We hoped for more but I’m proud that together we achieved my maiden pole, sprint victory and race win. Lots of positives to take away from the year and even more motivation heading into 2023. We’ll be back stronger, I have no doubt. 👊 pic.twitter.com/RHmqyWub5H
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) November 21, 2022
At that age, Russell was looking to join the young drivers’ program of one of the outfits. Being under their wing would help him rise up the ranks through junior categories, and Russell realized that he had to go and look for an opportunity himself.
“I thought at the age of 16 the world would come to me,” the 24-year-old said. “It was only during that year did I realize. They’re not looking for me. You have to go and look for them.”
Toto Wolff received an email from George Russell right after winning the 2014 World Championship
The 2014 season was the start of Mercedes’ eight-year period of dominance. Lewis Hamilton won the World Championship and the German team won the Constructors’ Title that year. Two days after the season ended, Russell sent an email to Wolff, introducing himself and asking for a meeting.
Toto Wolff feels George Russell mounting a title challenge in his first year with Mercedes would be a “luxury problem that we would then have to solve”https://t.co/A2uiQ74mXJ #F1 pic.twitter.com/TjWTHISTqP
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) October 7, 2021
“If I put myself in front of him and talk to him and show him what I’m made of, maybe there’s an opportunity,” the former Williams driver added.
Russell realized that Wolff won’t scout for talents within F4 himself. This is why he decided to write to the Austrian after getting hold of his email address in Abu Dhabi. He feels that since Mercedes won the Title that year, Wolff was in a good mood in their win’s immediate aftermath. Fortunately for him, Wolff did reply to the mail and met him in January, which kickstarted his journey towards F1.
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