Formula 1: Is driving for Williams hurting George Russell’s career?

Will the fact that George Russell is driving for Williams in his rookie Formula 1 season have a negative long-term effect on his career in the sport?

One of the most highly touted prospects in Formula 1 is Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport junior driver George Russell, who just made his Formula 1 debut driving for ROKiT Williams Racing in the first race of the 2019 season.

But with Williams being by far the worst team in the sport, the odds that Russell will end up recording any top 10 finishes and thus scoring any points throughout the 21-race 2019 season (and perhaps the 2020 season if he returns to the team) are extremely slim.

In fact, the chances that the 21-year-old Briton will finish any race ahead of any driver other than teammate Robert Kubica (and other drivers who are forced to retire from races) are slim as well.

But will the fact that Russell drives for Williams even have a negative long-term effect on his career?

Russell is widely considered one of the favorites to make the jump to Mercedes within the next few seasons. In fact, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton spoke about the possibility of turning his seat at Mercedes over to Russell ahead of the 2021 season back in 2017. Here is what he had to say about the matter at the time, according to ESPN.

"“While the car is in this form of rules until 2021 at least, I think that’s going to be the window I’m still here. Who knows? Maybe in 2021 I’ll hand the baton over to [Mercedes junior] George [Russell]. He’ll be there anyway before then. I’m going to keep going.”"

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Does the rookie still have a chance to replace the five-time champion as a driver for the five-time reigning constructor champions even though simply finishing ahead of Kubica is literally all he can do to prove that he belongs in Formula 1 on some level, not even necessarily the highest level?

With all things considered, Russell’s chances to drive for Mercedes will likely not be negatively affected by the fact that he drives for Williams. They may not be positively affected, but given the fact that they already appear to be pretty good, this shouldn’t make a difference.

If Russell was going to drive for Mercedes in the 2021 season before making his Formula 1 debut driving for Williams this season, he is likely still going to drive for Mercedes in the 2021 season. If he wasn’t, he likely still won’t.

This isn’t always the case in motorsports, but in Russell’s case, primarily due to the fact that Formula 1 is Formula 1, it should be. For instance, if a NASCAR Cup Series driver spends a bunch of races driving for a low-tier team and averages a 32nd place finish, he simply won’t be considered a hot commodity for the sport’s top-tier teams no matter how talented he is.

In Formula 1, it is a little bit different. Russell is a proven talent who won the 2017 GP3 Series championship in his rookie season and the 2018 Formula 2 championship in his rookie season.

Charles Leclerc, a former member of the Ferrari driver academy, pulled this off pretty much one year ahead of Russell, as he won the 2016 GP3 Series championship in his rookie season and the 2017 Formula 2 championship in his rookie season before landing a ride with Alfa Romeo Sauber (now Alfa Romeo Racing) for the 2018 Formula 1 season. He now drives for Scuderia Ferrari, one of the sport’s three top-tier teams.

Simply put, Mercedes did not send Russell to Williams believing that he would be able to score points in a car that will need to be beyond extremely fortunate to get him into the top 18 on speed alone. All he really needs to do as a Williams driver is beat Kubica on a consistent basis, and preferably a few other drivers from time to time, and his chances of landing a ride with the Brackley-based team will be as good as they have ever been.

If driving for Williams and having success, relatively speaking, of course, had any chance of having a negative effect on Russell’s chances of driving for Mercedes, the Silver Arrows would not have him driving for the Grove-based team in the first place.

This is the best possible place for Russell at this point in time no matter how you slice it, especially considering the fact that both seats at Mercedes and both seats at Racing Point, the other Mercedes-powered team, are taken.

Do you believe that the fact that George Russell drives for Williams, which are by far the slowest team in Formula 1, will have a negative effect on his chances to land an ultra-competitive ride with Mercedes within the next few seasons, perhaps by the 2021 season?