George Russell, who was at Williams for three years, revealed a big secret on the latest season of Drive to Survive. The now Mercedes driver, insisted he knew people within the Formula 1 paddock, who would drink alcohol during a Grand Prix weekend.
In the third episode of the docuseries, Russell shares an interesting piece of information while traveling with Lando Norris on the latter’s McLaren private jet. Norris asks Russell if he wants to go drinking, to which the latter says no. He then said that in his Williams contract, it was explicitly mentioned that he wasn’t allowed to drink on race weekends.
Russell then goes on to say that he knows people within Formula 1, who actually do that.
“Not gonna say names, but there’s definitely some people who drink.”
The rules against drinking will undoubtedly be stricter for drivers. But for team members, mechanics, and engineers too, it is important to stay sharp. As a result, their drinking on weekends too, could hamper productivity.
F1 drivers need to be at the top of their game, and drinking during a race weekend is certainly not the way to go. All the stars have personal trainers and a strict diet they take care of, to be physically fit.
Judging Norris’ expressions, it is clear that this is not normal. But who is the person Russell is talking about here?
Which driver is George Russell talking about?
Only one thing is certain, the person who Russell caught drinking wasn’t Lando Norris. When the cameras pointed towards the McLaren driver, both Norris and Russell cleared the air by stating it wasn’t him. Considering Russell mentioned his Williams contract, it could be someone from during his stint with the British team.
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Russell had two teammates during his time with Williams. In 2019, he was paired with Robert Kubica, and in 2020 and 2021, Nicholas Latifi was alongside him.
His next teammate was Sir Lewis Hamilton, whom he joined at Mercedes after leaving the Grove-based team. Hamilton is an unlikely culprit because he has his own non-alcoholic tequila brand.
Russell jokingly stated that he is being “paid off” to not reveal who the person is. Perhaps, we’ll never know.
