Russell in a 'zone of absolute superstardom'

20:30, 08 May

byGPblog.com

Claire Williams, former team principal of the Williams racing team, said in the Beyond the Grid podcast of F1 that Mercedes driver George Russell's current form can be compared to Max Verstappen's in 2022-2023.

Fantastic start to the season for Russell

The Brit has started the season well. In the first six races, he has stepped onto the podium four times, three times he was third, and in Bahrain, he was able to stand on the second step of the podium. Claire Williams sees Russell's progress and is impressed by her former pupil.

“I've watched the start of this season. George is on a different level. And this is what I think you see with drivers and what you’ve seen with Max [Verstappen] over the past two or three years, they tip into that zone of just absolute superstardom, and George is there now."

'Terrible' decision to keep Russell

At the Williams team, it was clear that Russell was an exceptionally great talent. In his last few years with the team, he was often associated with a move to the mighty Mercedes. Claire understood this but couldn't just let her pupil go, which she found terrible.

“George wanted to go to Mercedes in that last couple of years, and I couldn't let him go, and I hated that,” said Williams, speaking on F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast recently. “It makes me upset to think about it. I needed him, I felt, more than Mercedes, and he was in contract. If I let him go, what message would that have sent? What would that have done to my team if I'd have let George go?"

In the end, it was decided not to let Russell go to Mercedes, partly because of the talent Claire saw in Russell. “He was one of the greatest things that we had at Williams. When you go into a negotiation with a team like Mercedes and they're not offering you what they should be for your A-star driver, then why would you just let him go? What kind of Team Principal would I have been if I'd have just let George go because Mercedes said, ‘we want George now’. That's not how it works, is it?"

This article was written in its entirety by Hidde Korte.