The 2024 Canadian Grand Prix is a race George Russell should have won. For perhaps the first time since the Sao Paulo GP in 2022, the Kings Lynn driver had the track position, car and pace to claim the top step of the podium, certifying the long-awaited return of both Mercedes to the fray. at the Sao Paulo GP in 2022. front and his position as leader.
Starting from pole, he led the first 20 laps of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and had a comfortable lead over the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the McLaren of Lando Norris. But on lap 21, everything began to unravel when Russell was demoted from first to third in the space of a few hundred metres: first he was overtaken by Norris on the circuit’s longest straight, then by Verstappen after he misjudged the last straight. chicane.
Some intermittent rain and a dry track soon gave Russell another chance to take the lead, but two laps after passing Norris for second on Lap 49, he went wide in Turn 8, allowing the McLaren driver to return and miss the opportunity to chase Verstappen in a sick Red Bull.
It was at this point that veteran Sky F1 commentator David Croft asked the question that has not only crossed the minds of F1 fans and analysts, but also senior officials at Mercedes: “Does George Russell simply commit too many mistakes at times when opportunity presents itself?” Is he coming your way?
Russell misses victory in Canada due to unforced error…again
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Russell is far from the only driver of similar caliber and age to make the occasional mistake. Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen have all made critical mistakes in the past that have not only cost them victories but also left them out of world title contention. However, unlike those three errors, Russell’s mistakes have yet to be offset by a series of spectacular performances, not helped by two and a half seasons behind the wheel of a mediocre Mercedes. With Lewis Hamilton set to exit at the end of the year, Russell’s ability to lead an F1 team has been called into question.
Russell’s missed opportunities
Australian Grand Prix 2024
Six races before his eventful visit to Montreal in 2024, Russell crashed on the final lap of the Australian GP, while chasing the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso in sixth place. Although the Spaniard was later charged and penalized heavily for braking early at Turn 6, forcing the Mercedes driver to run into the gravel before returning to the track, other drivers including Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Lance Stroll , Sergio Pérez, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas agreed that Russell “should have seen it coming” and got caught in the dirty air.
Singapore Grand Prix 2023
It was not the first time that Russell had to regret an accident on the last lap. At the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, he hit his right rear tire with a piece of armco and sent his Mercedes nose-first into the barrier at Turn 10 in the heat of a battle for podium places. The accident not only lost third place ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, but also cost the team critical points in its close fight with Ferrari for second place in the constructors’ standings.
Russell’s fall in Singapore was costly for a team chasing the second best title
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Other errors of 2023
The 2023 season overall was riddled with mistakes for Russell. In Las Vegas, he ran into Verstappen at Turn 12 and received a five-second penalty, which then demoted him from fourth to eighth. In Canada he crashed into the wall at the exit of Turn 9, causing terminal damage that would force his Mercedes, which was previously in third place, to be out of the race entirely.
He also collided with his teammate on multiple occasions: first colliding with Hamilton during qualifying in Spain; He then compromised his final SQ3 lap in Belgium due to an untimely crash. But he wasn’t the only Mercedes driver who made mistakes. Hamilton took full responsibility for the race-ending contact between him and Russell at Turn 1 in Qatar.
“It’s been probably one of the worst seasons of my career in terms of results,” said Russell, ahead of the 2023 season finale in Abu Dhabi. “It’s been a really hectic and messy season.”
Russell’s Mercedes limps back to pit lane after hitting wall at 2023 Canadian GP
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But despite his flaws, Russell’s performances before last season are perhaps the biggest reminder that beneath the growing pile of common and critical mistakes, there still lies the talent of a potential world champion.
Russell’s great side
During his time at Williams from 2018 to 2021, the Briton outperformed his inadequate machinery on multiple occasions. A series of Q2 appearances in 2020 and an impressive understudy performance for Hamilton at the Sakhir GP set the tone for what was to come, as in 2021 Russell not only scored his first points in Hungary with a brilliant performance to the ninth place, but also took second place at Spa and scored a subsequent podium finish after the race was cancelled. He then completed another impressive qualifying lap at a rain-soaked Sochi Autodrome to qualify third and solidify his move to Mercedes, where in the first season he overtook Hamilton in the drivers’ standings, took eight podiums and won his first grand prix.
There were still some errors. At the 2021 Emilia Romagna GP, he jeopardized his promotion to the Brackley team by colliding heavily with Bottas’s Mercedes in his bid for ninth place. On a rapidly drying circuit, Russell had attempted to fly around the outside of the Finn into Turn 1, but instead he swerved and slid on the grass before crashing both cars out of the race. Russell’s conduct during and after the accident was strongly criticized by Toto Wolff.
“Valtteri had a bad first 30 laps and shouldn’t have been there,” he told the media at the time. “But George should never have undertaken this maneuver, considering the track was drying out. It meant taking risks, and the other car in front of him is a Mercedes. In the development of any driver, for a young driver, this global perspective must never be lost. So yeah, I guess there’s a lot to learn for him.”
Russell and Bottas had a major collision at Imola, with Russell initially blaming the Mercedes driver.
DPPI
Fast forward to 2024, and Russell is apparently still trying to grasp the “big picture” his team boss talked about. His numerous clashes with his Mercedes teammate, as well as the multitude of unforced errors he has made of late, are perhaps due to the greater expectations that come with driving for a top team alongside a certified champion, rather than fighting behind. against people like Nicholas Latifi.
“We’re pushing ourselves beyond every lap,” Russell said. Sky Sports F1 after his crash on the last lap of the 2023 Singapore GP. “We are going against the best drivers in the world and on a circuit like that, you only have to make a mistake of a couple of centimeters and you are off. I clearly got distracted or lost concentration when that happened.
“But I can tell you it won’t happen when we’re fighting for a championship.”
Wolff added at the time: “George is an absolute runner and he is devastated. “It is his second year at Mercedes and it will not happen again when there is another victory or championship (at stake).”
Both men were wrong. It happened again.
Is Russell’s time as Mercedes leader coming to an end?
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Although Mercedes is still a long way from fighting at the front on a regular basis, let alone competing for championships, mistakes continue to creep into Russell’s performances when the pressure reaches its peak. It’s notable how Wolff has been so public in his support of Kimi Antonelli, the Mercedes junior who has been considered the team’s future star (as Russell once was), and in his pursuit of Verstappen, who has been identified as a ideal replacement for a Hamilton bound for Ferrari in 2025.
While the driving force behind the Dutchman’s success since 2022 has arguably been the mastery of the car underneath him, it’s also hard to ignore the lack of mistakes he has made. The 2024 Canadian Grand Prix is just the latest in a long line of examples, where as the group behind him scrambled and slid all over the racing surface in an attempt to get to the checkered flag first, Verstappen stayed calm and consistent and eventually won easily. Similarities could be seen in Hamilton during the years he spent dominating at the front of the pack, as even in the most difficult conditions, the Briton rarely left a wheel out of place.
It’s a key reason why Verstappen and Hamilton have been the only two to win a world drivers’ championship since 2017. And it’s a level of consistency that will be required of Russell in the future at a Mercedes that can challenge for victory.
