Williams Sign George Russell for 2019 F1 Season

[Paul Jeffrey]

Williams Racing have confirmed 2018 F2 Champion elect George Russell will race for the team from next season.

Russell, 20, currently leads the 2018 FIA Formula Two championship standings heading into the final round of the season, and is a long term AMG Mercedes junior driver for the Silver Arrows.

Having the worst season in the long history of the iconic British team, the signing of such a potentially significant talent as Russell for next season should be seen as a shot in the arm for Williams, and with the deal confirmed today adds further fuel to the rumour that Lance Stoll is set to depart Grove for a run with the Racing Point Force India entry for next season.

Speaking about the announcement, George Russell said; “It is a huge honour to join a team of Williams’ prestige and heritage. Formula One has been a life-long dream. From watching the races when I was a child, it feels surreal that I will now be lining up on the grid, alongside drivers whom I have admired for years. I would like to thank Claire and everyone at Williams for their faith in making this decision, as well as Toto and the team at Mercedes for their fantastic support throughout GP3 and Formula 2. I am incredibly excited to start working with everyone at Grove and to take my first steps as a Formula One race driver. I cannot wait for Melbourne next year and to join Williams at the start of what we all believe will be the start of an exciting new journey.” ​

Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal, commented; “I am delighted to announce that George Russell will be joining Williams from the 2019 season. We have always tried to promote and develop young talent at Williams, and George fits that ethos perfectly. He is already highly regarded in the paddock and a driver whose career we have been watching for a while. In the time we have spent with him so far, we believe that he will be a great fit for our team; his commitment, passion and dedication is exactly what we need to drive the positive momentum building at Grove as we focus on the future. We are extremely excited to welcome George and work with him moving forward.” ​

Having secured Russell to a “multi-year” contract, the attention will now surely focus on the second Williams seat, with incumbent driver Sergey Sirotkin, reserve Robert Kubica and outgoing Force India driver Esteban Ocon all linked to the seat in recent months.

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Pleased to see Russell land an opportunity at Williams? Can the young Brit perform at the top level in your opinion? Let us know your thoughts below!​

 

[lukas005]

Wish him good luck, but what will happen with Esteban? Not sure if Mercedes buys both seats

 

[Rodent]

Multi-year contract, good for the lad. Hopefully Williams doesn't let him down.

And this signing really should put a rest to the whole "too hard for young talents to land a seat in F1" debate, retain'em maybe but clearly they're landing them for a a season or two. Heck with Alonso on the way out Kimi is basically the only grown up left.

 

[Craig Dunkley]

I like him, great talent, good choice (imo) young and so eager to please..lets hope, that none of Hamilton's attitude rubs off on him.

 

[Koen Verlinde]

Just another young talent that is going to leave gutted after 2 seasons in F1 "helped" by a team that hasn't had speed for more than a year.

 

[Davy Jones]

At first glance I thought he was a she with short hair no disrespect intended.. I guess the older I get the younger the young are looking..

 

[Fat-Alfie]

I like him, great talent, good choice (imo) young and so eager to please..lets hope, that none of Hamilton's attitude rubs off on him.

I hope a lot of Hamilton's attitude rubs off on him I think he has matured immeasurably over the last few years, and now has a great attitude towards his racing in general and his fellow competitors more specifically.

 

[RobertGracie]

To be honest I am not surprised about this, look at Bottas when he was signed and where he is now, give Russell a few years and it could wind up in a Merc seat for him....but that leaves the question, Sergey Sirotkin or Lance Stroll for his team mate (Editor me here just spotted a spelling mistake now corrected!)

 

[RichardHessels]

Did not know he was so famous he already had a his own statue at Madame Tussaud.

 

[Sasha Jednak]

Some good news from F1
@RobertGracie don't think it will be Stroll, he should be going to Racing point. Question that remains is what will happen with Ocon now.

 

[ears]

At first glance I thought he was a she with short hair no disrespect intended.. I guess the older I get the younger the young are looking..

He doesn't usually look like that.

Williams must have put him through the same hair and eyebrow thickening machine that they regularly put Lance Stroll through.

Or maybe their wind tunnel is malfunctioning. Maybe some of Nigel Mansell's 'tache blew off in it years ago and little bits are still escaping and sticking to unfortunate passers by.

 

[Sky]

a touch of the norman bates about him in that pic

 

[timson72]

I like him, great talent, good choice (imo) young and so eager to please..lets hope, that none of Hamilton's attitude rubs off on him.

What the winning attitude. What a diabolical attempt at Hamilton bashing.

 

[Will Mazeo]

the editing in his picture is making it look kinda hilarious lol

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

To be honest I am not surprised about this, look at Bottas when he was signed and where he is now, give Russell a few years and it could wind up in a Merc seat for him....but that leaves the question, Sergey Sirotkin or Lance Stroll for his team mate (Editor me here just spotted a spelling mistake now corrected!)

Stroll is most certainly heading for FI(or whatever it's gonna be called), there will be an auction for the second seat, Sirotkin is one of the betting favorites, but someone else might outbid him.

 

[rubaru]

I don't mean to have this sort of comment, but it seems to me like the young crew of drivers need to eat a few more slices of pizza and hit the gym. Yeah, I understand getting weight down to add more bits to the car, but they don't look strong enough to step hard on a brake pedal.

 

[Chris]

At first glance I thought he was a she with short hair no disrespect intended.. I guess the older I get the younger the young are looking..

Not just you haha, I also thought he had a strange face. Both him and Lando have odd looking faces. Nothing personal or disrespectful, they just have weird faces

Good thing they can drive cars quickly.

 

[rubaru]

Not just you haha, I also thought he had a strange face. Both him and Lando have odd looking faces. Nothing personal or disrespectful, they just have weird faces

Good thing they can drive cars quickly.

 

[ears]

Not just you haha, I also thought he had a strange face. Both him and Lando have odd looking faces. Nothing personal or disrespectful, they just have weird faces

Good thing they can drive cars quickly.

And that they can hide in a helmet.

 

[Nick Hill]

I can't tell you how relieved I am that I'm not the only one whose principal takeaway from the article was "what a very odd looking young man". Thank you RD, you've come through for me again!