The key Silverstone moments that shaped Russell into an F1 star

This weekend's British Grand Prix won't be the first time that George Russell has raced in front of his home fans.

Quite the contrary, as the Mercedes F1 driver has competed on the Silverstone circuit for almost a decade as he forged his way up the career ladder and to the pinnacle of the sport via various junior categories.

There have been plenty of high moments but also some lows for the young Brit, who told GP Racing about his memories at the famous circuit.

2009 British Grand Prix

Mark Webber won the British GP in 2009, which was also the first F1 race Russell attended

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“This was my very first grand prix, the very first time I went to Silverstone. I was standing on the edge of the circuit, Turn 1, Copse – the current Turn 9. 
I would have been 11 years old, racing in the cadet category in karts, it was called Comer Cadet then, and I was leading the championship.

"But it was there, standing on the outside of Copse, when I probably for the first time clearly realised I wanted to be a Formula 1 driver. I think the years prior I was too young to really know F1 and what exactly that was, I was just enjoying go-karting. But hearing the noise, the buzz, seeing the crowd… That’s when I was like, ‘Yeah, this is what I want to do.’”

2014 BRDC Formula 4 Championship, Round 1

Russell made his single-seater debut in BRDC F4 with Lanan, winning first time out

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“My very first-ever race in single-seaters, and my very first race at Silverstone.

“I remember a very special feeling. Just racing at Silverstone in a car like this... Silverstone just 
felt so big and wide. And it was almost surreal to be on a Formula 1 circuit in such a small 
Formula 4 car. I can’t remember the exact lap times, but probably around two minutes and five seconds, really slow. But that was the start of a new chapter in my career.

“This was the opening round of the championship and there were three races that weekend, and I believe I won two of them.”

2014 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award evaluation

Nominated as a finalist for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 2014, Russell won

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“End of 2014, the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award [now the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award]. We, the British drivers, are very fortunate that the BRDC chose six drivers per season – aged, at the time, from 17 to, let’s say, 23-24, so young up-and-coming drivers – and they would give them a chance to do a shootout in a Formula 2 car, Mercedes DTM car and a McLaren GT car. And the driver who came out on top won £100,000 and a test in a McLaren Formula 1 car.

“I remember they actually had to change the rules because I was too young. I was 16, so I was the youngest driver ever to be nominated for this award. And actually, Mercedes, the DTM guys, were having some difficulties because they believed I was too young to be driving this DTM car.

“But yeah, that was an exceptional experience, driving an F2 car which felt so quick at the time, jumping from F4. The DTM car was cool to drive, almost like an F3 car. The GT car, very different – driving around the last corner at Silverstone and the car bounced off the circuit, because there was no downforce. But yeah, that was a great experience.

“I called a few drivers before going to Silverstone to ask for some advice – and I find it unbelievable no one else did. I spoke with Matt Parry, the guy who won it before me, Oliver Rowland and Alexander Sims. And then I spoke with a few other drivers who did the award, but didn’t win it, and even a guy from GT – to be as prepared as I could.”

2015 Formula 3 European Championship, Round 1

A move into European Formula 3 for 2015 yielded a win at Silverstone

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“Moving to Formula 3 in 2015 wasn’t the intention, actually. The intention was to go and race in Formula Renault that season. But this was following the year Max [Verstappen] did F3, and obviously, there was this big hype around Formula 3. That was quite a field. Charles Leclerc, Alex Albon, Antonio Giovinazzi, Lance Stroll and Felix Rosenqvist...

“An opportunity came up for me to join Carlin. And we had the money from the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award we’d won, the £100,000, which was a huge contribution. And also Jost Capito, who was the head of Volkswagen Motorsport at the time, funded a lot of my Carlin season as well because it was a Volkswagen engine. So with these things aligned, we took that route with Carlin in F3.

“The first weekend was Silverstone. Race two: Charles was on pole, and I was second – from 35 cars – and I won. On the podium picture, out of shot, is Stefano Domenicali [former Ferrari team principal and now F1 CEO]. He handed out the trophy!”

2015 The prize McLaren F1 test

At the wheel of Jenson Button's McLaren MP4-26, Russell got his first taste of F1 machinery

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“A year after winning the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award I got my first test in an F1 car. And it was the car Jenson [Button] won the 2011 Canadian GP in!
I remember, there was such a noise from that thing... Obviously, the fastest car I’d driven before was the F2 car – the one I drove the year before [in the evaluation]. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced. It was only 20 laps, but a hell of an experience.

“Was I nervous before it? No, to be honest, I was just looking forward. I had the track to myself and was just there to enjoy it.

“But I remember it not being too smooth. I did the first run, and I had so much front end. So after my first five laps, I told my engineer, ‘Can we take some front wing off? Like, it feels really quite sharp.’ And the response at the time was, ‘No, no, this is correct.’ And something like, ‘It’ll come to you.’ So I didn’t argue... You know, I’m 17 and it’s my first time in an F1 car, I didn’t want to seem like a know-it-all.

"So, I did my final two runs. I said to the engineer at the end, ‘I still struggled a bit with the car,’ and they realised they’d set the front wing wrong and that I had 16 turns too much of front wing. To put it in perspective: when we pit, we might ask for one or two turns of front wing more or less!

“I couldn’t believe that had happened and I was a little bit upset I didn’t get to push the car to its limit because I wasn’t super comfortable with the feeling of it, and it felt like something was wrong. And it turned out something was wrong.

“So you think, ‘This is my first time in an F1 car. Will I get another chance?’ But I believed I would.”

2017 GP3 Championship, Round 2

GP3 put Russell on the F1 support bill, and with it came larger crowds and more attention

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“GP3, my first Silverstone race weekend at the British Grand Prix. To be a support race for F1 definitely changes a lot.

“I’ll always remember my first-ever race at a GP weekend, in Barcelona. I vividly remember coming around Turn 7, I got up the hill and it was packed with people – and I’d never seen that many fans before from the cockpit.

“But Silverstone was even bigger. I had some of my friends, my family there. And that was a really intense race. Anthoine Hubert was right on my
 tail for all of the race. I think he made a better 
start than me and got in the lead. I overtook him then, but I couldn’t leave his DRS. So he stayed within one second of me the whole race, but I managed to get the win in the end.”

2018 Formula 2 Championship, Round 7

Russell just missed out twice on winning at Silverstone in F2

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“I was on pole position this race weekend but finished second twice. I led the feature race but had a slow pitstop that allowed Alex [Albon] to jump ahead of me... I think we finished 20 seconds ahead of P3. You could see it on my face when it came to the podium for that. I was a bit unhappy, but it’s just one of those things...

“And then in the sprint race, I started seventh as per the [reverse-grid] rules – and I came back through and finished second again. I think one more lap and we would have won the race. We were catching Maximilian Guenther – with Lando [Norris] just behind me – two seconds a lap, but just ran out of laps.

“I think by that time I believed I’d in F1 next year. I’d already done numerous tests with Mercedes, I tested with Force India a number of times. And at this point, the plan was for me to join Force India for 2019 – and it was only when [Lawrence] Stroll purchased the team it meant that instead of joining Force India I’d be joining Williams.”

2019 British Grand Prix

Russell struggled in maiden season of F1 with Williams, but instantly had support from fans

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“To be racing at Silverstone for the first time as an F1 driver was really a special experience. I was shocked at how much home support I had, considering I was a rookie. I couldn’t believe how many people were there supporting me. Obviously, there were a lot of people for Lewis [Hamilton] but how much support Lando [Norris] and I got as well really meant a lot to me.

“It was a very difficult season. Obviously that Williams year we finished last in almost every race. That car must have been the most uncompetitive car in F1 since maybe 2012 – in terms of the gap from last to second-last. I’ll always remember going into the fan zone, standing on the stage where they do the concert, looking out and there were 30,000 people in front of me. I’d never seen so many people just in such a small space. That gave me goosebumps and the motivation that I want to stand on the top step of the podium there one day.”

2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

Fan support was missing during the 2020 races at Silverstone - something Russell says he took for granted

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“Doing two weekends in Silverstone without fans felt weird. I think very quickly people realised we probably took the fans for granted. The energy they brought to the event, to the race, the
 support you got. This is part of F1, part of the excitement. And it just felt like, ‘Who are we doing this for?’ – especially at a place like Silverstone, which thrives off the people there. So that was for sure a very strange time, but there were bigger problems in the world.”

2021 British Grand Prix

The Brit put in a strong qualifying performance in front of his home crowd in 2021

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“The Williams car back then – and I believe it is still today – was far better on a Saturday than it was on a Sunday. And you were just always moving backwards on a Sunday, which was pretty demoralising. But the qualifying in Silverstone
 was great. It would have been my second Q3, I believe, which for us at the time was a huge 
result, and we ended up P8.

“I remember I did my Q3 lap in the middle of the session – and I think I was the only car on track. When I was on my out-lap, coming out of Turn 7, I could see everyone in the grandstand standing up. And it turned out to be a really strong lap and when I crossed the line, I could see everybody cheering. And that was a pretty special feeling.”

2022 British Grand Prix

Russell rushed to the scene of Zhou's crash at the start of the 2022 British GP

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“Being a Mercedes driver didn’t really change much in terms of attention from the crowd. This is why I really love and appreciate the support in Silverstone – because they were there from day one. It wasn’t like there was a big step last year by joining Mercedes, which is what you’d naturally expect. People were there supporting the three of us from the beginning and, yeah, a huge amount
 of appreciation for that.

“The way the race ended [George went to help Zhou Guanyu out of his car and was eliminated] was a real shame. I could have restarted the car but I actually didn’t know how to, which was not cool. And then, yeah, watching it from the garage was probably the most painful hour and a half of my whole year, because it was gut-wrenching, seeing the competitiveness of the car at my home race.

"To be honest, I wanted to leave straight away. I don’t know why I stayed, actually. That was a horrible, horrible feeling. Because also what I love about Silverstone is not only is it an amazing track to drive every single lap – so fast and flowing, and you really need that rhythm – but it’s also a really great race circuit.

"On Sunday there’s lots of opportunity to overtake – at Turn 3, Turn 4, Turn 6, Turn 15, Turn 17 – you can overtake everywhere and that’s unusual. And then the atmosphere from the fans, the event as a whole. I’ve always had friends and family who go to Silverstone, and they love the concerts and everything that’s surrounding the event. It’s just a real excitement.”

Fans will be hoping Russell can take a strong result this weekend at the British GP

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