🇬🇧 George Russell

George Russell is a Generational-rated driver, ranked first among active drivers in this index, racing at the front of international single-seater competition. He has driven for Mercedes in Formula 1 since 2019, by far the largest share of his career, and holds an FIA Platinum grading. Mercedes has produced more race wins than any other team in this record, though none of the other drivers it has fielded rate as highly as Russell himself.[1]

Russell's route to Formula 1 ran through three championship seasons: GB3 in 2014 with Lanan Racing, GP3 in 2017 and Formula 2 in 2018, both with ART Grand Prix, sandwiching two seasons in FIA Formula 3 European with HitechGP. In Formula 1 he has taken eight wins and thirty-two podiums from a hundred and sixty-seven starts with Mercedes, a run now in its eighth season.[2]

His most frequent opponents in Formula 1, Lance Stroll and Alexander Albon, are themselves established Platinum-graded professionals, and Russell has been closely matched with both across a large body of racing; Stroll won the 2016 FIA Formula 3 European title before either reached Formula 1. Against the strongest drivers in the field, Russell has finished ahead of Lando Norris, Formula 1's 2025 champion, sixty times, and of Max Verstappen, a four-time Formula 1 champion, twenty-four times. His most recent win came at the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where he held off Verstappen at the finish as Norris retired from the race after a crash.