Mercedes Formula 1 driver George Russell has revealed that his father used to mistime his karting laps to keep the British driver grounded as he moved up the motorsport ladder.
“I didn’t know any different, to be honest, because I jumped in and I was winning races and I was fast,” Russell explained on the Untapped podcast when asked how quickly he realised he had a gift.
“I probably didn’t know because my father was so hard on me. I always felt that I wasn’t good enough for my father. When I used to do go-karting, at the time, there was no real data analysis. We didn’t even have lap times on practice days. It was literally my father with a stopwatch.
“And I learned after about five years that he would always time me late, so my lap times looked slower than reality. He would tell me the lap times of the other drivers on practice days, and I always thought I was slow. Then I got to the races and I was qualifying on pole and winning races, and I was so confused as a kid. I’d think, ‘I’m always slow on these practice days, but then I get to the races and I win. Why is that?’
“I realised over time that he would always do that just so I didn’t get too full of myself or overly confident, and that was such an amazing, important lesson for me.”
The 27-year-old driver opened up about his relationship with his father now and how it has changed over the years.
“He’d leave before I woke up to go to school, wouldn’t be back until eight or nine in the evening, and I’d already be in bed. So, I wouldn’t see my father during the week. We’d then jump in the van on a Friday night and go up and down the country, and if the race weekend wasn’t good, he’d be screaming and shouting and really pushing me hard.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
“As a young kid, I was thinking, ‘I don’t see my father, and when I do see him, he’s upset with me and I feel like I’m letting him down.’ That was really tough. But it’s only when I was about 17 years old that I recognised, not just the financial investment, which is one thing, but the investment in time that he put into me. He had to work his arse off to give me that opportunity. And then whenever he had a spare moment, he was taking me here, there, and everywhere.
“I can only imagine the pressure and stress he must have been under himself. Ultimately, those years from the age of seven to 13 shaped me as a person, and I have him to thank for that.”
Russell decided to part ways with his father in a professional sense when he signed with the Mercedes Junior Team at 17.
“It’s much better, and he’s there as a father as opposed to, at the time, being a mentor, a mechanic, the driver up and down the country, the investor,” he continued. “He was everything. And, of course, he was watching me grow as a kid and a teenager, wanting to give me this opportunity and putting everything on the line for it.
“It was only when I signed with Mercedes at 17 that it almost looked like he was handing the baton over. We had a really great chat when this happened, and I told him my views – that I wanted him to be there as my father and not really anything further.
“That’s why, when they come to the races, they’re not standing there in front of the television. They’re keeping to themselves. They don’t want to take any spotlight or presence or interviews. They just want to be there as my parents.”
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