Jordan admits he severely underestimated Russell

George Russell drove at Williams for three seasons and despite being way too strong for any teammate, he could not convince Eddie Jordan enough. The former Formula One team boss has since come back to that. The 75-year-old flamboyant Irishman acknowledges he was pretty wrong a few years back.

Russell made the switch to Mercedes in 2022 as Valtteri Bottas' replacement. Structurally fighting for victory was not in the cards, but that was more down to the W13 than to Russell himself. The 25-year-old driver crowned his debut season with the German formation with a fourth place in the world championship (ahead of Lewis Hamilton) and a first F1 win, at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

"I got it wrong with George," Jordan said in the Formula For Success podcast. He found Russell at Williams, Mercedes' customer team, not very convincing straight away. "I saw him in the Williams and I thought ‘are they really going to sign him?’ He absolutely blew me away, I never thought he would do what he’s doing and I never thought he would be beating Lewis.”

This season, looking at the World Cup standings, Russell has to acknowledge his superiority to the seven-time world champion for now. Hamilton accumulated 56 points in five Grands Prix, his younger compatriot is on 40 points. In qualifying, Russell does have the upper hand. Only once did he have to give way to Hamilton.