Of the eight drivers of the elite four teams who have towered over the remaining six other squads in the pit lane in 2024, George Russell could be forgiven for feeling like the forgotten man among them.
Max Verstappen, after all, is Max Verstappen. In a team that has generated more thousands of words of press coverage than any other this season, Sergio Perez has been responsible for many of them – for vastly different reasons to his team mate.
After years in the wilderness, McLaren have made their long-awaited return to regular contenders for victory and championships. Their drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have been forced to bear the brunt of all the additional scrutiny that comes as a price for that.
At Ferrari, Carlos Sainz Jnr’s departure from the team has provided one of the more enthralling sagas of the season. In a year of several frustrations for Charles Leclerc, he also enjoyed three of his greatest moments of his career.
Then at Mercedes, this season will forever be defined by being Lewis Hamilton’s 12th and final campaign with them before the seven-times champion trades silver for scarlet in 2025. His drought-busting triumph at Silverstone and inherited victory at Spa provided some welcome final highlights in the most decorated team and driver partnership of all time.
Then there’s been Russell. Perez aside, the only driver among this group not to have racked up more than one win, thanks to his Spa disqualification. And his sole victory was overshadowed by two of his rivals clashing controversially.
But the Mercedes driver has grafted hard. His third season with a third straight car which has failed to deliver what his team expected and hoped for, Russell has been quietly consistent, only failing to finish outside of the top six on six out of the 19 grands prix he was classified in. But even after securing a front row start for the Brazilian Grand Prix and leading so much of it until a badly-timed Safety Car, Russell remained realistic about his chances of adding a second win before season’s end.
“Brazil was definitely a bit of a one-off, I think,” he admitted. “When it rains, it presents opportunities. And for ourself, it was an opportunity.
“I think we need to look back to the sprint qualifying and the sprint race for a bit of a fairer picture of where we are. And that was behind the front four teams.”
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