By George!

In Our Exclusive Interview With Mercedes's George Russell Over The Formula 1 Weekend, We Discussed The Singapore Grand Prix, The Team Watch By Iwc Schaffhausen, And How The British Racer Feels About Losing Lewis Hamilton As A Teammate.

- SUFFIAN HAKIM

WHEN GEORGE RUSSELL officially joined the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team in 2022, it was a stroke of genius. He was not only one of the sport’s most exciting up-and-comers, but he was also familiar with Mercedes. Between 2019 and 2021, he was part of Mercedes’ junior driver development programme, and filled in for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes during the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix (GP) when Hamilton tested positive for Covid-19.

In light of the announcement that this would be Lewis Hamilton’s final season at Mercedes, all eyes have been on Russell as he steps up into a more senior role, playing mentor to Hamilton’s replacement, 18-year-old Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

He arrived in Singapore on the back of an impressive 2024 so far, having achieved pole positions for the Canadian and British GPs. Mercedes absolutely swept the latter with Hamilton winning and Russell achieving second position. He later won the Austrian GP.

Before Singapore, he finished third on Azerbaijan’s anti-clockwise, six-kilometre Baku City Circuit, which is also F1’s fourth-longest track.

Singapore, however, is a different proposition.

“I personally love the Singapore Grand Prix,” said Russell when we spoke with him at Marina Bay Sands. “It’s quite surreal racing at night through such a beautiful city with a lot of culture. I really enjoy coming here every single year.”