George Russell: F2 title "not necessary" for F1 promotion

Mercedes junior talent George Russell has said that getting a seat in the F1 next season won't be solely reliant on whether he wins the Formula 2 championship or not, as the young Brit doesn't think it's "essential".

Russell does lead the championship at the moment, heading fellow Brit Lando Norris by twelve points. Russell earned himself a run in the W09 during testing in Hungary earlier this month, where he turned some heads as he topped the table during his session (setting an unofficial track record as well).

“I don’t think it’s essential to win [F2] to secure that F1 seat,” Russell told Crash.net.

“I think this season in F2 has been a bit unique for everybody. 

“If we were not to win the championship we can always look back and say we had a whole weekend in Budapest ruined by mechanical, we had the whole of Monaco ruined by mechanical, we had race two in Paul Ricard, didn’t start, we stalled in Bahrain. 

“The list is just enormous."

Russell's problems have been a common theme in F2 this season, as the new cars for this years are experiencing some teething problems, to put it lightly.

“Everyone is having issues but we kind of are getting that unluckier moment let’s say on tracks you can’t do anything, Budapest and Monaco have been my worst two. 

“What’s essential is that I keep on performing. I keep on qualifying at the front and if I am at the back I keep on coming back like I have been doing.”

Russell knows that he just needs to keep his current excellent form up. Teams will come calling eventually. 

"I hope some heads have turned in the past few races and kind of noticed what we have been achieving,” he concluded.