George Russell on his relationship with Lando Norris and Alex Albon

George Russell, Alex Albon and Lando Norris all impressed their first year in F1 in 2019 and Russell has revealed that the trio have been friends since karting, always challenging each other to do better. 

The young stars are the latest in a series of young drivers making F1, with the likes of Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz also showing their talents.

Russell told Autosrpot: "I knew we'd be on a similar level to one another when we came to F1, because we've raced each other our whole lives, and we know where we rank ourselves amongst one another.

"Knowing that we do have the level to do a good job in Formula 1 against guys who have been here for 5-10 years and more is a great feeling, and I think having raced one another all our careers since the age of 12-13, we've pushed each other. Probably not consciously.

"I saw things that Max [Verstappen] and Charles [Leclerc] did that I probably thought I need to do, they might have thought the same with us.

"Likewise, Lando was just below me and Alex was a bit ahead of me, Lando probably looked up to us, I looked up to Alex a little bit when he was in senior karting and I was in junior karting."