George Russell picks the "key" overtake that shaped his F1 career

The British driver celebrated 100 races with Mercedes at the Barcelona Grand Prix, the first of which came as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, as the seven-time world champion had been ruled out due to testing positive for Covid-19.

Speaking to F1's official website, Russell reflected back on the race, which he believes played a big part in him taking Valtteri Bottas' seat at the team from the 2022 season, after spending the opening three years of his career with Williams.

During the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, Russell missed out on pole position to Bottas by 0.02 seconds but was able to get past him on the opening lap. Russell fell behind Bottas after he was illegally sent out on the Finn's tyres, forcing him to make an extra pit stop. After a late safety car, Russell would overtake Bottas on fresh tyres. However, when chasing Sergio Perez's Racing Point for the lead, Russell suffered a puncture and ultimately only finished ninth.

Russell said: “If somebody’s only watched my last few races in F1, and then they were told to watch that Bahrain race, they’d think I’ve got the worst luck in the world. I think this overtake was key for my future with Mercedes. Even though it wasn’t built up to be a head-to-head of Valtteri versus myself, everybody knew that I was gunning to try and take over his seat. When I saw the opportunity to make the pass on him around the outside, I took it.

Russell has suffered bad luck in certain races this season including the Monaco Grand Prix, when he received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pits, which led to a drive-through penalty for not serving that penalty correctly. Mercedes decided to abandon their Right of Review request, before the hearing had been scheduled for June 20th.