George Russell has gone on to become a seven-time Grand Prix winner with Mercedes and one of Formula 1’s leading drivers, but his first taste of life in the Silver Arrows left a more permanent mark than most would expect.
The Briton was handed a dream opportunity at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19.
Russell was still a Williams driver at the time, but Mercedes came calling – and getting himself into Hamilton’s car proved to be an ordeal in itself.
Six years on, Russell has revealed that he still carries the physical reminders of that frantic debut.
A Mercedes seat that simply didn’t fit
Speaking on the SAP Significant Figures show, Russell recalled just how little time he had to prepare for his unexpected promotion.
“I got the phone call on the Tuesday. I jumped in the car on Wednesday to see if I fit, and I did not,” the he explained.
The problem was that Mercedes’ cockpit had effectively been built around the smaller frames of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. Russell, considerably taller than both, found himself contorting his body just to fit behind the wheel.
“It was Lewis and Valtteri Bottas, who were the two drivers at the time,” he continued. “They are quite a bit shorter than me. I’ve also got quite big flipper feet as well, which is quite tight in a Formula 1 car.
“And I was scrunched in, bent over, my shoes didn’t fit. I’m a size 45, like 11.5, 11. And I had to wear size 43 shoes to fit in.
“But they were asking me, ‘Is it OK? I was like, ‘Yeah, totally fine. No issues, no issues. I’m driving, no matter what, I am driving this weekend.'”
That determination was about to pay off spectacularly.
Russell qualified second, just 0.026 seconds behind Bottas, before charging into the lead at the start. He looked on course for a remarkable maiden Mercedes victory until a sequence of errors in the pits derailed his afternoon.
Mercedes accidentally fitted Bottas’ tyres to Russell’s car, forcing him back into the pits, while a later puncture finally ended his charge.
A painful reminder of what might have been
Beyond the memories of the race itself, Russell has now revealed that the physical discomfort of squeezing into the car was severe enough to leave lasting scars on his hips.
“I was on course to win the race and then it all got taken away,” Russell added. “It was really tough, but I also knew what I showed in that race was enough that that would probably seal my future with this team.
“So as I said, if my career had stopped on that Sunday night thereafter, it probably would have affected me until this day.”
©Mercedes
Instead, the race became the audition that effectively changed the trajectory of Russell’s career. Mercedes had seen enough to know that the young Williams driver belonged in its future.
The scars may have remained, but so did the opportunity. Russell would eventually join Mercedes full-time in 2022 – turning a chaotic substitute appearance into the beginning of a career at the front of the Formula 1 grid.
Read also: Montoya reveals Russell’s unexpected Antonelli problem
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