George Russell talks about entering a new phase in his F1 career as an experienced driver at Mercedes, as he adds working with Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Valtteri Bottas.
After spending few years alongside Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, the 2025 F1 season will be the first year when Russell is a defacto leader at the team with a rookie Antonelli alongside him. Even though there is no ready #1 or #2 marking on them, the Brit is expected to lead still.
This is something that Russell realises as well. He notes how he is entering a new phase in his young F1 career in 2025. “I recognise my role as the more experienced driver,” said Russell in an interview to Mercedes. “There are a lot of great young drivers coming onto the grid, and it makes you realise you are no longer the youngster.”
“I am entering a new chapter in my career. I am ending my beginning and entering the mid stage. Lewis was 29 when he joined Mercedes and started winning all those championships, and Michael was early 30s at Ferrari. Nowadays everyone starts younger and younger – my debut came at 20. But I feel ready now to fulfil roles at the team, but the most important part of that is driving as quickly as possible, and I feel in a good place to do that.
“I’ll continue to want to learn and be open and take nothing for granted. You either have the speed or you don’t, but there is no doubt these guys coming in are going to be competitive,” summed up Russell, who had kind words for Antonelli as his new teammate and also on Bottas, who re-joins Mercedes in reserve capacity to aide in the development work.
Considering that Antonelli will need some time to get up to speed, large portion of development work will fall on the shoulders of Russell and Bottas, with the Brit waiting to hear from the Finn’s experience of driving a Ferrari powertrain. “He [Antonelli] is such a fantastic driver,” he said. “He does not have the experience yet, but I am sure he will be up to speed very quickly.
“He has already integrated so well. We have both been racing from a young age and we know what needs to be fed back to the team. He is young, but his opinion will be just as valid. On the other hand, Valtteri’s experience is going to be massive. Having someone with so much simulator and racing knowledge, and who fully knows the team is going to be great.
“Hearing about his last few years at Sauber, with the Ferrari engine could be key too. You always have to keep an open mind as to what others are doing and he has all of that under his belt. Obviously years ago we were perceived to not have a strong relationship, but we are both professionals and our relationship has grown, we often travel together and see each other at hotels or in the gym.”
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