Russell wants to pull a 'Franz Hermann' like Verstappen but doesn't have THIS!
18:06, 15 May
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Mercedes driver, George Russell, has emphatically said he'd like to follow in rival Max Verstappen's footsteps, however, he believes that two things stand in the way for him: his many responsibilities as an F1 driver and not owning his own private jet.
So, does Russell hold in his heart the racing enthusiasm to try out different categories and cars like his Red Bull Racing counterpart? Responding to question from GPblog at the paddock in Imola, the Briton revealed whether or not Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff would even let him do it in the first place.
"No, we've spoken about it numerous times, to be honest. I'd love to. I really want to shuffle my schedule around a little bit to allow me to do more driving, because I love driving. I did a lot of driving in Nordschleife on iRacing over the winter."
However, it's not that easy, particularly with the numerous responsibilities that come with being an F1 driver, Russell notes.
"I want to get more involved in things like that, but it's very challenging when you've got so much sponsor commitments outside of the racing, the travel, the simulator days, the debriefing with the team. It helps when you've got your own private jet, so you get to places a little bit quicker," added Russell in relation to Verstappen who does own a private plane.
"But I'd love to be spending my weekends driving around. Toto and I were going to go to the Nordschleife, because he was on his record lap, I think, about 20 years ago, before he had a puncture and broke his ribs. But yeah, definitely we will be doing that sometime."
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