Mercedes engineer recalls the moment he realised George Russell was going to be ‘amazing’

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George Russell was highly rated by Mercedes before his promotion to the works team in 2022, and his current race engineer has recalled the moment that the Silver Arrows realised he would be ‘amazing’.

Renowned as the most underrated driver on the Formula 1 grid, George Russell may have a case for being the best driver on the current grid without a world title to his name.

After signing for Mercedes as a junior driver in 2017, the Briton honed his craft at Williams for a number of years before being pitted against one of the greatest F1 drivers of all-time in Lewis Hamilton at the Silver Arrows.

He has since gone on to become a multiple Grand Prix winner, repaying Toto Wolff’s faith in him, but it was a moment before he was an official full-time driver for the team that served as the German constructor’s eureka moment.

• READ MORE: George Russell has already displayed one trait that makes him a definite 2026 F1 title contender

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Mercedes engineer recalls the race where they knew George Russell had ‘real talent’ as an F1 driver

In a recent video on Mercedes’ YouTube channel that looked back at Russell’s first 150 races in Formula 1, the Brit’s race engineer at the Silver Arrows spoke about his performance at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix as being an instrumental moment in the future of his career.

After world champion Lewis Hamilton was ruled out of the race after testing positive for COVID-19, Russell was given the green light to replace him at the works outfit with a very short notice period.

What ensued was a magical performance from the then-Williams driver. He took the lead from teammate Valtteri Bottas at turn one, and was on his way to a dream maiden victory before fate had other ideas for him.

Marcus Dudley notes it as the moment Mercedes knew they had a gem in their ranks, recalling, “I think the way that the race went is what really opened people’s eyes to, okay, this kid’s got real talent and he’s a real racer.

“We just need to get him in the car now and keep building. It was just amazing. We got the call late on Wednesday night, and we had so much stuff to go through with you, having never driven the car before.

“And you just took it all on board. It was like, right, you just tell me what to do, and I’ll go and do it.

“We just kept chipping away through the weekend, and then in the race just kept fighting back and fighting back.

“Just the spirit you showed in that race as well, it was a painful one, but a good memory though.”

The race ended up being a dream maiden victory for Sergio Perez instead. After finding himself in last place after the first lap, the Mexican driver carved through the field and benefited from Russell’s misfortune to secure his first win in the category after 190 attempts.

• READ MORE: Charles Leclerc is realising what George Russell had to put up with as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate

George Russell names the Lewis Hamilton world title-winning F1 car that was a ‘beast’ to drive

Despite the nightmare that unfolded for Russell during the race, he still looks upon the substitute drive in the W11 with fond memories.

The five-time Grand Prix winner added, “That car was a beast. It was just so easy to drive that car; it was like it did everything you wanted in one. It was so intuitive.

I’d turn in, and that thing would just bite, and the tyres were good. It almost kind of felt like driving on a PlayStation. We should have won that race, I mean, we led twice.

“We led the whole race, safety car, wrong tyres, went down to P6, I think. Came back to P2 and was chasing Checo for the win. And then the puncture.

“Somebody didn’t want me to win that day. Obviously, that was so painful for me, but my life is no different today, had we won that race or not. But, you know, I would have loved to have won that race and had another one on the tally.”

That race gave Russell the confidence to believe in his abilities to become a world champion in the future. While it hasn’t come to fruition yet, it is certainly in the cards for him.