It’s awards season! The time of year when we at GrandPrix247 look back on the 2022 Formula 1 season and choose who gets one of our awards. Our young driver of the year? George Russell.
Beating an illustrious teammate in the form of Lewis Hamilton, first career pole position, first career F1 race win, all on his debut season with Mercedes… George Russell ticked all the boxes.
Russell admitted that he wasn’t expecting the season he endured with Mercedes, as after his years at Williams fighting for scraps, the 24-year-old admitted he thought he would be fighting for wins, but Mercedes unfortunately produced a lemon of a car in the form of the vicious W13.
Russell ended up having a baptism of fire on his first season in Silver, but he did not fail to impress, as despite his understandable frustrations, he kept his head down, and made the most out of the equipment at his disposal, more so than Hamilton, and despite somehow losing his way towards the end of the season, Russell ended his campaign on a high winning the penultimate round at Sao Paulo.
Dealing with disappointment wasn’t easy
We all knew Russell was good from his days at Williams, and his performance in Bahrain in 2020 when he stood in for the ill Hamilton proved that.
However what he faced at Mercedes in 2022, after arriving at the team full of hope that his days of toiling around at the back of the grid were over, must have tipped Russell of balance, but the way in which he responded was admirable and shows that he has got maturity in addition talent.
He also displayed respect when dealing with his seven-time F1 Champion teammate, biding his time to get settled within the team and not going on to fight Hamilton from the start, and the result is that he beat him anyways without causing any friction.
Having said that, it remains to be seen how Russell gets along with Hamilton when the car is good and they are both contenders, and we might not have to wait long to find out of Mercedes get there act together in 2023.
His season wasn’t without any errors at all, with the crash he caused at Silverstone with Zhou Guanyu a clear example, and not to mention punting Carlos Sainz in Austin; but for now, Russell delivered and impressive first season with Mercedes and for that he gets this award.
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