George Russell is one of the most popular and talented drivers in F1 today. The 24-year-old spent the first three years of his career with Williams but moved to Mercedes in 2022. There, he teamed up alongside the legendary Lewis Hamilton, and they hit it off right away. However, an old video of Russell shows that he idolized Fernando Alonso a lot during his junior career.
Alonso is arguably one of the all-time greats in F1. He has two World Championships to his name, which he won during his Renault stint back in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Since then, he has driven for McLaren, and Ferrari and has had further spells at Alpine (formerly Renault). Unfortunately, he failed to add more Title wins to his name.
In a recent video that is being circulated online, a 17-year-old Russell talks about Alonso, and how much he admires him. Russell praised the Spaniard’s ability to maximize the potential of any car at his disposal and admitted that he hopes that he follows in his footsteps.
“He’s always performed,” Russell said. “No matter what car he’s been in. “I hope I can do the same as him, and hopefully I’ll be in as good, or a better car, and hopefully I’ll be very successful.”
George Russell and Fernando Alonso party hard ahead of the New Year
On the 31st of December, Russell posted a picture of himself and Alonso partying hard, with cigars in their mouth! It seems as though the two have formed a great relationship in their short time together in the sport so far.
Today, Russell is considered to be one of the most talented drivers in F1. During the three years he spent at Williams, he couldn’t show anyone how good he was because of the team’s poor mechanical package. However, with his arrival in Mercedes, he showed everyone his consistency and skill and even managed to finish ahead of Hamilton in the standings.
Alonso meanwhile, had a difficult year with Alpine. He had the pace, as was evident in most Grand Prixs, but reliability issues limited his charge up the field, and tensions between Alonso and the team grew every week. When Sebastian Vettel announced that he would retire after the 2022 season, Alonso didn’t waste time in signing for Aston Martin as his replacement.
The 41-year-old has signed a multi-year contract with the Silverstone-based outfit and is showing no signs of slowing down in spite of his age.
Also read: Fernando Alonso promotes his new $192,000 company car at his own racetrack
