Current GP3 Series champion George Russell is expected to confirm in the upcoming days that he will take his next step on his career as he will move to FIA Formula 2 on the same team he has driven and has been crowned in GP3, ART Grand Prix.
With an official announcement yet to be released, FormulaRapida.net can confirm that British driver George Russell will make his FIA Formula 2 debut with ART Grand Prix, the same team which he has won this years’ GP3 Series championship with.
The 19-year old has taken four wins and seven podium finishes and has been the strongest of a season that has been completely dominated by his team, being the four ART drivers the only real title contenders and having finished in the Top 4 positions. Russell was crowned after the sprint race in Jerez, where Jack Aitken had still mathematical options to pass his team mate.
Now, Russell, who is also part of the Mercedes young drivers development programme and has had the opportunity to drive a F1 Force India in practice sessions, will make a further step on his career moving to FIA F2, where he will try to follow Charles Leclerc’s steps and win both GP3 and F2 as a rookie.
As it could be expected after this successful 2017, he will stay in ART to try to repeat all he’s achieved in 2017. This means that one of the current drivers of the F2 team, Alex Albon or Nobuharu Matsushita, will have to look for a new team. There’s still no information about who will be lined-up next to the GP3 champion, and the driver that will take his place in GP3 is also yet to be known.