George Russell’s Dominant Pace Is One Of 2024’s Telling Truths

As a matter of fact, where it stands at present, then it isn’t Sir Lewis Hamilton. One’s quite sure. It isn’t even the world champion of the current season- Max Verstappen. And forget not, it isn’t even either of the two Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz jr. or Charles Leclerc who happen to be Formula 1’s recent race winners. The tag for being the latest F1 Grand Prix winner actually belongs to the same bloke who was left with a dagger in his heart where it came to none other than Spa Francorchamps, home to the Belgian Grand Prix. But he’s also the same guy who actually left nothing unattempted or untried just as he left little to the chance where it came to dominating the bright lights under the Nevadan desert as seen recently.

That very guy whose keen sense for domination and racing smarts earned him the tag of being “Mr Saturday” all along but someone in whom none other than Mercedes see an able driver who is expected to author their brand new racing era post Lewis Hamilton’s departure.

Handsome, tall and ebullient- George Russell is all this and more and truth be told, where his die hard fans are concerned then they may note the following:

The mild-mannered man is often seen cruising on great speeds where it comes to dominating several F1 races.

We saw most recently that it was none other than the man who was born at King’s Lynn coming under early pressure from Charles Leclerc at Las Vegas. Eventually, George Russell stayed put and persisted with rich focus and self confidence to emerge as the first driver to cross the checkered flag at Las Vegas.

In his victory, Mercedes sealed what could be called their finest-ever 2024 moment with George Russell’s teammate Lewis Hamilton clinching second.

And where it came to the very next battle, i.e.., the Qatar Grand Prix, then George Russell’s flying pace was evident. Before Charles Leclerc and then, Max Verstappen came to usurp the great fight put forth by the Mercedes machine in the critical stages of the Grand Prix, it was George Russell all the way in Q2.

In such time, George Russell remained fourth fastest for the better part of Q2 and this being one of the few street tracks where Mercedes excelled with a sense of elan.

In Q3, he’d take provisional pole by setting a ballsy 1:20:575, going three-tenths up his closet on-track rivals at the Lusail track.

Truth be told, while veterans of the grid in Fernando Alonso were trying to pounce hard at the rest of the grid, not an awful lot seemed to perturb George Russell, who persisted with P1 (position) having hardly broken any sweat.

For someone who is still, if you think about it, a recent joiner of the famed F1 grid, George Russell proved (especially) during Q3 that just when the attention may certainly have been on Max or Lando, it was a Mercedes that proved to be an outlier.

As a matter of fact, so utterly dominant remained the driving style and penchant to excel at the venue that with a little under a minute to go in Q3, George Russell continued this Midhas touch at the Lusail.

His 1:20:575 remained, until the very closing stages, four hundredths of a second faster than Max Verstappen, now a four-time winner.

Ultimately denied the pole position by none other than Max Verstappen who would usurp the Mercedes driver by fifty five thousandths of a second, George Russell placed his car on a position that you’d dub very respectable given it was P2.

And second on the grid at the end of qualifying could also mean giving the avid Mercedes youngster a fine chance at making some early moves at the Qatar Grand Prix, especially given the fact that George Russell is quite an attacking starter in a typical F1 race.

But will that happen? We don’t know for sure. What we do know, however, is that Russell’s driven like a true fighter this season. And the championship will, one day, belong to him.