George Russell has been serving as the director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) since 2021. The GPDA is the official body that represents all F1 drivers on the grid with its chairman and directors acting as the chief representatives. Russell revealed how he is quite a passionate individual about the safety of drivers in F1 and thus got “elected” for the GPDA director’s position. However, he downplayed it by joking that it wasn’t like the US presidential election.
Speaking on The Fast and the Curious podcast, Russell said, “I kind of got elected to be that person, probably because I always had one of the strongest voices in the past or cared the most”.
The co-host of the podcast Greg James caught Russell in his words as he claimed that the Mercedes driver was “elected” for the GPDA role. On this, Russell quickly replied to downplay it, “It wasn’t really an election as such. “It wasn’t quite Trump-Biden“.
Still, the 26-year-old stated that he had one of the “strongest voices” among all drivers that earned him the GPDA director role. Russell also highlighted that he wishes for the sport to be in the best place possible in terms of safety, racing, cars, and tracks.
This quite aligns with the purpose of the GDPA. It was back in the 1960s when Stirling Moss headed the grid to form the GPDA.
The GPDA’s legacy in F1
While Russell has been vocal about the drivers’ safety in the sport several times, he is driving in an era where F1 has transcended the old days when drivers faced a higher threat to their safety. Back when Moss started the GPDA in 1961, many drivers used to lose their lives or have serious injuries during races.
Unfortunately, the GPDA was disbanded once in 1982 due to a disagreement between drivers and the FISA (Federation Internationale du Sport Automobile) at the South African GP. It wasn’t until 1994 after Ayrton Senna’s death in Imola that several drivers, including Michael Schumacher, were in favor of re-establishing the GPDA.
The GPDA reformed #OnThisDay in 1994 after a marathon Friday meeting, headed by Lauda, Berger, @schumacher and @fittitweet, ready to hold #F1 to account on matters of safety. ✊ Both Berger and Lauda stressed the need to carefully review circuits, equipment and more. pic.twitter.com/NKN12sL4GI
— Motorsport Images (@MSI_Images) May 13, 2024
Since then, it has developed into a permanent company (CLG) and has had multiple drivers serve as its directors and chairmen. Sebastian Vettel was also one of the GPDA directors from 2010 up until his retirement in 2022.
Schumacher, Damon Hill, Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard, Fernando Alonso, and Felipe Massa are among the many drivers who have taken the responsibility of being the voice of the grid as GPDA director. However, currently, Russell is the only active driver serving as one of the three directors alongside former driver Alexander Wurz.
