A driver and his race engineer have to be two hands in one during race weekends. The driver leans a lot on his companion behind the pit wall. George Russell has a new race engineer for the 2023 F1 season; Marcus Dudley, an acquaintance of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Staff shifts at Mercedes mean Russell will have a new race engineer in 2023. His old engineer, Riccardo Musconi, has been promoted to the performance engineer position, leaving a spot vacant next to Russell. To fill Russell's race engineer spot, an employee of Hamilton's garage has been taken.
Russell now working with Marcus Dudley
Russell will work with Marcus Dudley, Peter Bonnington's former second-in-command, from 2023. Bonnington, also known as Bono, is again Hamilton's race engineer. Bono and the seven-time F1 champion have a particularly long partnership in F1.
Speedweek.com quotes Hamilton: "I am eternally grateful for Bono's work. I don't think any race engineer has ever worked with a driver as long as he has with me. He is like a brother to me. He is probably one of the few people who can deal with all my rough edges. His composure during the race is extraordinary." This testimony from Hamilton indicates how intense the bond can be between driver and race engineer. Dudley and Russell will only really get to know each other this season.
A race engineer is extremely important to a driver, and we see that Lewis and Max are very connected to theirs. This change will surely affect Georg, because he has already connected with the old one. I hope it clicks with Marcus.
Marcus Dudley, has been waiting for this promotion for a long while, he had been learning and growing in the Hamilton side of the garage and I forsee him building a long term successful partnership with Russell. Great stuff ?
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