George Russell reveals physical scars from surprise 2020 Mercedes debut

Driving for Williams as a Mercedes junior in 2020, Russell was called up by Mercedes for the penultimate race of the season, qualifying just 0.026s behind teammate Valtteri Bottas in Sakhir. Then only 22 years old, Russell had got ahead of Bottas at Turn 1 in the race and looked likely to secure a fairy-tale win, but a major Mercedes pit stop error, and then a puncture, eventually saw him finish P9.

Speaking on SAP Signifiant Figures, Russell detailed the issues he experienced fitting into the Mercedes cockpit, standing around four inches taller than Hamilton and Bottas, but that nothing was going to stop him from making his debut.

Russell explained: "I got the phone call on the Tuesday. I jumped in the car on Wednesday to see if I fit, and I did not. It was Lewis and Valtteri Bottas who were the two drivers at the time. They are quite a bit shorter than me.

On the adversity he faced during that weekend, Russell then revealed: “I’ve still got the scars on my hips,” nearly six years after the race took place.

While the race did not end how Russell would have hoped, he said he came out of the Sakhir GP confident that he had done enough to eventually secure the seat at Mercedes. He said: "This was my first shot. I mean, I hadn't even scored a point until this point in my whole career because the team, as I said, we were so slow at Williams.

Asked if he had at all lost faith after the Sakhir GP heartbreak, Russell replied: "No, to be honest, I knew my time would come. I sit here now, six years later, if I'd won that race or the race panned out the way it did, it hasn't changed my life.