Why Mercedes has an F1 driver conundrum

When it comes to Formula 1 drivers, Mercedes has rather an abundance of riches. Not only does it have a newly-minted four-time Formula 1 world champion in the shape of Lewis Hamilton, it also has Valtteri Bottas, currently closing in on second in the 2017 points standings, Esteban Ocon, getting better with each race at Force India, and Pascal Wehrlein, still Sauber's sole points scorer this year.

But Mercedes is about to have a driver problem - albeit a good one - thanks to the performances of another star on its books: up-and-coming Briton George Russell. He has just won the 2017 GP3 title and will make his grand prix weekend debut in Brazil on Friday.

Russell, 19 years old and from Kings Lynn, has scored four wins, three poles and set five fastest laps in GP3 so far in 2017, and he wrapped up the F1-supporting third-tier category with one round to spare at Jerez last month. The 2014 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner did so against highly-rated team-mate opposition in the form of Renault-backed Jack Aitken and Honda junior Nirei Fukuzumi at the ART Grand Prix squad.

Hungary represented both a low point and highlight for Russell in 2017. His two non-scores at the Hungaroring are so far the only two he has had in GP3 this season. But just two days after that event, he took part in the August F1 test for Mercedes at the same track.

Russell has been working with Mercedes since the middle of last season. He signed to become an official Mercedes junior in October 2016, but the announcement was delayed until the following January because of Nico Rosberg retiring.

"Mercedes have put a lot of faith in me and they're using me a lot for the simulator," Russell says. "I was very pleased that they chose me to do those days and put their trust in me.

"[In the test] it's very easy to look at a lap time and say, 'this guy did this lap time - he's in a Mercedes, he's in a Renault, or whatever' - but the guys who need to know, know what programme I was on, were happy with the job I did. We didn't quite get to complete the whole test programme, but what we needed to find out, and do, we did."

Mercedes is clearly impressed with Russell after the Hungary test and his successful GP3 season. Ahead of this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix, Russell will drive Sergio Perez's Mercedes-powered Force India in first practice. He will take over Ocon's car for the same session at the following race in Abu Dhabi.

But this time last year he was facing a very different career scenario. In his second and third seasons out of karting, Russell raced in the Formula 3 European Championship, starting in 2015. He finished sixth for Carlin that year before joining new team Hitech GP for '16, where he ended the season third as now-Williams driver Lance Stroll took a commanding title win.

"The [previous] two years have been tough," Russell reflects. "When we made the step up to F3, in the first half of the season I didn't really understand the car and how to drive it properly. Then 2016 was a great year, but you had Stroll at Prema, with three really quick team-mates, and it was tough to compete."

At the end of last year, things started looking up. Russell took pole at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix - an additional 'selling point' with Mercedes - and, at the same time he was announced as junior driver with the German marque, it was revealed he would switch to GP3 with category powerhouse ART.

"This year I knew I'd have no excuses and I had to put everything into it," says Russell."[The success] means a lot to me, to make up for the previous two years, which probably haven't quite shown the potential I believe I have."

Still, his season did not get off to the best of starts. While Aitken took pole and fought Fukuzumi for the win at the opening round at Barcelona (later dropping out due to a sensor problem), Russell bagged a fourth and fifth finish from the two races, losing places at the start in both events and having to fight his way back up the order.

But thanks to a test at the Hungaroring in the eight-week gap between GP3's opening two rounds, Russell's results rapidly improved. This was in part because the test gave him the chance to fully adapt to the GP3 car's hand clutch - a system he was unfamiliar with, having used foot clutches in his previous three seasons of car racing - and address the start problems he'd had in Spain.

"I had a fairly poor first round, for my standards, in Barcelona," he says. "But we soon rectified the issues and turned it around."

Winning the GP3 title and being fit enough to complete the Hungary test were two targets Mercedes set for Russell in 2017. Now he can consider the ultimate aim: an F1 race seat, and how he's going to get there

Russell scored main-race victories in Austria, Britain, Belgium and Italy - split either side of the disastrous weekend in Hungary, and second and fourth at Jerez were enough to secure his first championship win since the 2014 BRDC Formula 4 series.

The title certainly vindicates the switch to GP3. It also meant Russell had to get to grips with the category's difficult-to-master Pirelli rubber.

"I've improved with tyre management," he explains. "F3 was very much 'go flat out every lap', whereas here you need to think about the tyres, look after them. Also [in GP3] the racing is different because if you have a poor race one, you're screwed for race two."

GP3's combination of a points-heavy first race and reversed-grid second race meant Russell had to adapt his mindset too. "As a driver, I've improved [by being able to] see the bigger picture and picking up the points to win the championship," he says.

Like Mercedes, Britain is not short of fast young drivers striving to make it to F1. But thanks to five titles in four categories across four successive seasons of car racing - one name stands out in terms of media and fan buzz: Lando Norris, the 2017 F3 European champion.

So what does Russell think of his fellow third-tier title winner?

"There's no doubt he's a very good driver," Russell says of a compatriot he has known since karting. "I think he's definitely had more opportunities than 99% of other drivers, which gives him an unfair advantage, let's say. He's been in a privileged position, but you have to go out and do the job and I know drivers in that position who haven't been able to fulfil what he's doing."

When asked about the buzz surrounding Norris and whether that helps or hinders him, Russell is equally balanced in his comments, but there's a firmness - one that reflects his fierce competitive spirit - in his reply.

"It's not a hindrance - it doesn't affect me at all that he's in the limelight," Russell adds. "I don't care if thousands of people on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram are giving hype over him and not me because they [Mercedes and ART] know what I'm doing - they're happy with my performance."

Russell reckons the next step in his career is likely to be into Formula 2, where Norris is also tipped to race in 2018. Although indications of where drivers are heading have switched wildly in recent weeks - and will undoubtedly do so again - sources have suggested that a Russell-Norris F2 line-up could become reality, with ART a possible destination for the pair.

"My goal next year will probably be to win F2, which is where it looks like I'll be racing," he adds. "I think Lando is definitely going to be one of the main rivals out there and I'd prefer having him as my team-mate in exactly the same equipment. I'd love to be team-mates with him because there's a lot of hype around him and Charles [Leclerc, 2017 F2 champion] at the moment."

Winning the GP3 title and being fit enough to complete the Hungary F1 test were two targets Mercedes set for Russell in 2017. With those goals successfully achieved - and more no doubt set for his GP practice appearances - he can consider the ultimate aim: an F1 race seat, and how he's going to get there.

"You need to believe in yourself," he says when asked if he's got what it takes to reach F1. "I believe in myself. I finally had this year to make up for previous seasons, to show on paper that I've got it, rather than just telling people 'I have it'.

"I believe I can get there, but this is a very tough sport and to get there you need to be performing right, at the right time, when an opportunity comes about. But if you're always performing, then that opportunity will come."

If Russell keeps up his success in 2018, Mercedes will face a problem. At the very top of the chain, it has no reason right now to change the line-up of its works squad, with Hamilton winning titles and Bottas picking up race wins too.

Force India seems content with Ocon - who presumably has his own ambitions to step up the Mercedes pecking order as soon as possible - and Sauber is looking likely to become the team where Ferrari places its junior drivers, including Leclerc, which presents Wehrlein with his own problems.

Williams would appear to be the perfect team for Mercedes to place a highly-rated young British driver at, but the minimum driver age agreement between Williams and its title sponsor Martini is repeatedly cited as a potential stumbling block for such a deal.

Maintaining his winning form in F2 in 2018 is all Russell can do to give himself the best chance of securing an F1 race seat - but it's up to Mercedes to find him that opportunity.