George Russell recently signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes that will keep him at the team until the end of the 2025 season. As per spotrac.com, he pockets $8,000,000 per year. Despite earning such a huge amount now, there was a time when the 25-year-old did not even have enough money to compete in Formula 3. In the most recent episode of F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Russell has opened up on how it was Mercedes who saved his family from selling their house.
In the same interview, Russell also named the list of drivers who had some sort of backing. The Mercedes driver stated that Nyck de Vries had the backing of McLaren, while Alex Albon had Red Bull’s backing. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc did not have the backing of any team but that of Nicolas Todt, the son of former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt.
Worth taking a risk today with potentially a lot to gain. Overall, some good points for the team on a tough track. Thanks for the incredible support throughout these past two weeks. Time to recharge ahead of Doha👊 pic.twitter.com/HGdjiFKCvD
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) September 24, 2023
As for himself, Russell stated that Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff backed him at the time he needed it most. The Briton believes that after he won everything during his karting days, he earned the trust of the Austrian and the Silver Arrows. It was the same backing that prevented his family from taking some extreme measures.
George Russell explains his gratefulness towards Mercedes
In the most recent episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast, George Russell began his remarks by explaining how passionate his parents have always been about racing. He stated that his parents have liked racing so much that they decided to give him the opportunity to try his hand at the same.
He stated that even though he had a few sponsors during his first few years of racing, his parents still provided the major backing. Since his parents were providing most of the finances, Russell stated that he reached a point when he had no more money to go beyond Formula 3.
Speaking of it, he explained, “We had no more money to go beyond Formula 3 and that was a very tense year because that was the year when I could also comprehend that this was almost like my last opportunity. If I don’t win this year, how am I going to get the backing to race in Formula 3? My family cannot support that and I would not want them to sell the house to give me that opportunity“.
This was the time when Mercedes provided Russell with the backing he needed. The 25-year-old stated that since his family knew Gwen Lagrue, a talent spotter who joined Mercedes, he was able to get an opportunity with the team. Since he faced so many hardships during the early part of his career, he believes such situations taught him to work hard.
Russell explains how his hardships helped him develop his work ethic
While speaking in the same interview, George Russell stated that he has had a strong work ethic ever since his young days. He stated that his father always told him that one only gets back what they put into it, and that is something that taught him to work hard.
The 25-year-old then went on to add that while he does believe that he was privileged enough to never have any real struggles, he did make it clear that his family definitely did not have enough finances to help him get to F1. It is the same understanding that Russell believes gave him the motivation to work as hard as he could to ensure that he was better than everyone he came across to eventually make it to the pinnacle of motorsports.
