George Russell once said it was ‘difficult to digest’ what he saw Lando Norris do during rookie F1 season

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George Russell burst onto the scene in Formula 1 in 2019. While he has now become an established race winner with Mercedes, his career did not start like that.

Toto Wolff signed Russell to Mercedes in 2017 as part of their junior programme. He went on to win GP3 – now Formula 3 – that season before winning F2 the following year.

The Brit beat some established talents in F2 in 2018, including Lando Norris and Alex Albon. Winning seven races, Russell dominated the championship while his close friends finished second and third respectively.

All three went on to join the F1 grid in 2019 – Norris with McLaren and Albon with Toro Rosso – now Racing Bulls. With Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas being a title-winning partnership at Mercedes, Wolff placed Russell at Williams alongside Robert Kubica.

The Grove-based outfit were far removed from their previous success, almost nearing bankruptcy with the team’s very existence at threat. It is no surprise, therefore, that Russell had a torrid rookie season compared to Norris and Albon.

George Russell said it was ‘difficult to digest’ Lando Norris scoring points as a rookie while he languished at Williams

The FW42 was desperately underdeveloped as Russell and Kubica languished at the back of the field. The former failed to score points, while his teammate grabbed one point at Hockenheim, finishing 10th – Russell was 11th.

Meanwhile, Norris and Albon – whom the Brit had beaten in F2 the year prior – scored regular points. The former finished 11th with McLaren on 49 points, while the latter was promoted to Red Bull after 12 races due to Pierre Gasly’s poor form and started challenging for podiums.

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Russell said it was ‘difficult to digest’ his F2 rivals outperforming him in F1. He had gone from the top and winning the title to the very back with Williams.

“That was a really unique season for my first year in Formula 1, joining Williams, a team that was on the brink of bankruptcy. And it was a team of, every single race weekend, it was racing to survive, it wasn’t racing to perform. The team was racing to survive and the 800 people’s jobs at stake,” he said.

“And there was no doubt, when I got to my first race in Australia, I’m here in Formula 1, almost one dream accomplished and go out on track and we’re four seconds off the pace. The car’s falling apart and we’re being lapped two or three times, kind of thinking to yourself: ‘Is this the dream?’

“I think I’ve always had quite a rational view to things. While seeing Alex and Red Bull scoring podiums and being the man to a degree and Lando, equally always in the points. That was sort of difficult to digest because I’d just come from Formula 2, where I beat them.

“I thought that, even though they’re finishing in the points and they’re scoring podiums, I’m not here to score points or podiums. I’m here to win.”

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George Russell is now Mercedes’ lead driver in Formula 1

The trio have since gone on to have very different careers in F1. Albon was dropped by Red Bull in 2020 and returned to the sport in 2022 with Williams, where he is now leading them back to the front.

Norris is a title contender with McLaren, while Russell replaced Bottas at Mercedes in 2022. He is the team’s lead driver after Hamilton left for Ferrari.

The Brit has put in some standout performances in 2025, alongside teammate Kimi Antonelli. Martin Brundle is loving Russell’s confidence as he sits fourth in the standings with three podiums.

Gary Anderson sees Mercedes as more stable after Hamilton’s departure. They have tried a new approach with Russell and Antonelli – and it is working as they find themselves 33 points ahead of their Maranello rivals after five races.