Will Buxton doesn’t understand ‘weird’ thing George Russell keeps doing in media interviews

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Mercedes driver George Russell will be hoping he can surprise his rivals at the front of the grid to cross the finish line first once again at Zandvoort.

Although his victory at the Belgian Grand Prix was taken away from him after his car was found to be underweight following a brilliantly executed one-stop strategy, it highlighted that the Brit is ready to be considered among the top drivers in Formula 1.

The Dutch Grand Prix is going to be a tougher test for George Russell with two rapid McLarens ahead of him and Max Verstappen eyeing a fourth straight victory in front of an excitable home crowd.

Mercedes have won three of the last four races and with Lewis Hamilton starting on the seventh row on Sunday, it’s up to Russell to secure a decent points haul at Zandvoort.

Speaking on DRS: De Race Show, journalist and F1 TV presenter Will Buxton has been talking about the 26-year-old.

Specifically, Buxton was talking to former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde about the media work some of the drivers do during race weekends.

Russell has come out with some interesting catchphrases over the years, with his ‘Yaba Daba Doo’ exclamation when he took pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix immediately coming to mind.

However, Buxton thinks that Russell is playing up to a character he’s created in the public eye and he’s not the only driver guilty of this.

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Will Buxton talks about George Russell’s ‘weird’ persona in media interviews

Talking about how drivers act in media situations, Buxton said: “He’s [Oscar Piastri] great. What I like about Oscar is he’s still so new to all of this that he’s not trying to play up to a preconception of who he needs to be.

“Like George is trying to be this weird Talented Mr Ripley-type person, right? I don’t know what George is…like George is trying to be this thing.

“Daniel is still trying to play up to being the 24, 25-year-old Daniel and it’s like, mate you’re in your 30s, calm down.

“Flipping the bird at the bit that he crashed at last year, come on mate. I think so many of them get caught up in who the media thinks they are that they play up to their personalities.

“Oscar doesn’t have that yet and so you just get this beautiful young freedom of personality. I love that.”

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George Russell talks about his future Mercedes teammate

Russell is growing into the leading driver role at Mercedes with Hamilton nearing his exit from the team before joining Ferrari in 2025.

There are just three seats left on next season’s grid that haven’t been confirmed yet and one of them is at Mercedes.

It’s expected that Russell will be joined by Kimi Antonelli next year after a decent Formula 2 campaign.

The Italian has also tested extensively behind the scenes and Russell has responded to suggestions that Antonelli has beaten some of his times.

When asked about a potential partnership with the 18-year-old next year, Russell suggested his number one pick to drive alongside next year is Verstappen.

That’s not going to happen in 2025, but Toto Wolff is desperate to eventually work with the Dutchman in Formula 1.