George Russell: My brother was a karting champion — but starting at 11 he was too old for F1
Never too young to start
Age can be a sensitive topic at times, especially in Formula One. The immense physicality of the sport requires not only driving skill, but drivers to be athletes of the highest order, and starting at a young age contributes to drivers being at their peak for longer. But according to Mercedes F1 star George Russell, if you haven’t started racing by age 11 you’ve already missed the boat if you want a seat in a grand prix car.
In an interview in The Sunday Times Magazine, Russell, 25, described how his older brother Benjy was both a national and world karting champion — the racing categories widely considered as the ideal starting point for future F1 drivers. But because his career began at the tender age of 11 it was already too late for him to have any chance to reach motor sport’s pinnacle formula, Russell claimed.
Russell followed in his brother’s wheel tracks by taking up karting but did so at the age of six. That has proven to make a huge difference to his prospects, as evidenced by his current position alongside Formula One’s most successful driver ever, Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton also took up racing at an early age, beginning in karting at the age of seven before being signed by McLaren at 13. He would go on to win seven world championships and, at the age of 38, shows no signs of slowing down — though his car isn’t a title winner this year.
The Brit is the second oldest F1 driver on the grid in 2023, behind another world champion, Fernando Alonso (41). But only six of the 20 drivers competing this year are aged over 30, and the median age of the field is 27 years old.
Older drivers were much more common in the earlier years of F1. Juan Manuel Fangio won five world championship titles over his 18-year career, clinching his final one at 46. Drivers would usually start racing later back then, whereas in the modern era it’s not likely that drivers will reach Formula One while still teenagers.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen took part in his first F1 race at 17 years, 166 days old. He’s now 25 years old and a double world champion. Sebastien Vettel made his debut in F1 at the age of 19 and became the youngest world champion at 23 years and 123 days, and then notched up four successive championships with Red Bull.
Racing from an early age comes with many sacrifices, including financial ones as even competing in junior categories can now be phenomenally expensive.
Russell recalled in the Relative Values article: “After long hours at work Dad drove us in a camper van to racetracks around the country. It was very much a family affair. Dad was the mechanic, Mum did the cooking and collected data on my driving. When I drove well, there were celebrations and the mood was great but because everyone was so emotionally and financially invested, when I suffered a poor weekend, the mood was bad.”
His father, Steve Russell, described the difficulties he faced as a parent in bringing George along in his racing career: “As George progressed through the racing ranks it became more and more expensive. We invested in a motorhome to travel to races — before that I would sometimes sleep in a freezing horsebox.
“There were sacrifices. Alison and I didn’t go on our first holiday together until two years ago, on a trip to Lanzarote. By then we had been together for 38 years.”
Read The Sunday Times Magazine’s Relative Values article with George and Steve Russell at thetimes.co.uk.
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