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George Russell "made PowerPoint presentation" to get 2018 Williams seat

18:16, 06 Nov 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe has revealed that new recruit George Russell had already tried to land a seat at the team in 2018, and he even made a PowerPoint presentation to convince the team.

Russell has secured a seat for 2019 at the Grove-based team after impressing in his debut Formula 2 season, beating the likes of Lando Norris and Alexander Albon to the F2 title.

At 20 years old, Russell is regarded as one of the brightest young talents in racing together with drivers like Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon.

“The thing about George is for a young guy he’s very confident," Lowe was quoted by Motorsport.

“He takes the initiative to try and shape his future and I think that’s one of the reasons he’s got to where he has.

“As an example, last year he wanted to be in the running even to drive for 2018.

“I think it was a bit early. It’s good he’s done the year in F2, I think a year ago would have been too early for George to consider F1.

“He will be much stronger having done that year in F2, but he came to me a year ago with a PowerPoint presentation with why he was going to be our best driver.

“I’ve never received one of those before.”

That's a new one for us as well! Sure, you want to sell yourself to a team as a driver, but we've never heard a driver take it this far! It shows just how eager Russell was and still is to break into the world of Formula 1, which is absolutely a good thing. Hopefully, his eagerness and enthusiasm (and his talent) can inspire Williams to do better in 2019 compared to this season!