The George Russell Dilemma

this video is sponsored by Squarespace tot wolf has a big decision to make leis Hamilton is vacating a seat that is held since 2013 the end of an era the start of something new replacing statistically the greatest of all time is not a problem you face every day but maybe Mercedes don't need to replace him per se it has been proven time and time again that you can achieve much success with just one lead driver Lewis andal Michael and Rubin Max and czecho the list goes on and maybe just maybe toe already has that guy right in front of him George Russell was over five seasons deep into his Formula 1 career with over two of those years alongside L Hamin at Mercedes and it's fair to say he's held his own he's won a race in a ground defent Mercedes something Lewis hasn't been able to manage he's been almost identical to Lewis over a lap over their two and a bit years together and is beginning to stretch a marginal Advantage this season on paper he does look like a driver who has the potential to be a pretty like for likee replacement however along the way George has managed to cultivate a reputation that seems to vary wildly depending on who you ask so today I wanted to ponder whether Toto wolf and Mercedes can really trust George Russell longterm to carry the torch that Lewis Hamilton is giving him and what about Toto Wolf's very public courting towards Max for stappen and very openness to Andrea Kim Antonelli the 17-year-old getting into that car they've only got two seats my name's Tomo let's talk about it while I've been away these last few weeks in South Africa my reading material has been this biography from James Gray on George Russell very interesting to read how his career came to be what it is today starting at his most junior level his brothers you know Benji he chased the dream first didn't quite make it how George signed a deal in 2014 with prer then L STW was announced as the driver next to him and mysteriously the contract for George disappeared and how he wasn't a mile off getting in the Williams a season earlier after he won the 2017 gp3 title I've watched with my own eyes since 2019 since George joined the sport since I started this YouTube channel him develop progress into a very very clearly very very talented racing driver his highlight re is stacked it just is a P2 qualifying in a soaking wet Spar franos shamp in 2021 squeezed into Lewis's 2020 Mercedes and immediately outclassed VY sakir should have won that race and of course took the dub in Brazil 2022 with Lewis breathing down his neck from P2 the entire race didn't bottle it didn't crumble under the pressure and converted to D you cannot question the validity and the impressiveness of those picks but you also cannot question the existance of some pretty serious lows back-to-back IMA horror shows in 2020 and 2021 first into the war under the safety car then into the side of V's Mercedes at 200 mph a Litany of unforced Aras in 2023 from hitting the wall in Canada to driving into max in Vegas and of course you cannot forget his last minute bottle in Singapore clipping the war and retiring from at least a Podium finish that weekend look I do think most team principles would prefer a driver who has guaranteed Pace but is liable to overstep in and to pull them back then to have a driver that only ever drives at 95% and you would think with more experience George should be able to pull that back and get it to where it needs to strike that balance better just like Max V stappen has okay his his reputation when he came into the sport was always very very quick but also quite crashy hence crash dappen yeah over the years we've seen him dial back those kind of head loss moments and be much more measured I would say as of now in 2024 he is the most complete driver on the grid Bar None So then saying that looking at how complete Max is now maybe that is why Toto is so anxious about losing out potten on the next Max for stappen to come through now Toto may have some very difficult decisions ahead of him but I tell you what isn't difficult building your very own beautiful online home using Squarespace in fact today I'm going to tell you about their brand new guided website design system called Squarespace blueprint you can choose from professionally curated layouts and styling options to build a unique online presence from the ground up tailored to the exact needs of your brand and or business optimized for every device imaginable plus it includes optimized search engine optimization tools to make sure you can get your stuff recognized out there fast I've been using Squarespace for years and I think you should too if you want to give it a go you can free of charge it's only when you want to publish your finished website you have to pay and when that time inevitably comes around T squarespace.com tom1 to get 10% off of your first website or domain look I think Toto feels right now that with Andrea Kimmy and tanelli he's not only concerned about missing out like he did with Max in his earlier career where Red Bull could offer him matur Roso SE Toto could only offer him an F2 drive but also Toto's faced with a bit of a catch 22 situation like he was with George at the end of 2021 cuz I don't believe Toto could have afforded to keep George in that Williams for a fourth season I I don't think that would have happened he either gets the meredy or I think George probably would have looked elsewhere if they'd have kept Val and Lewis but that didn't happen and Toto did ultimately decid to break up what was arguably the most say balanced but the most cohesive and unpro Driver pairing on the grid by none up to that point right you look at all the success Lewis had the fact that Val never really pushed Lewis he'd have a bit of early season momentum on these odd occasions could you know out qualify Lewis 30% of the time he was never really a threat to Lewis not like Jensen Button had been not like Fernando Alonzo of course had been not like Nico rosberg had been I am of the belief that if 2021 had gone different and Lewis had won that Championship he probably would have retired and then Toto would have been like cool well I've got George in the Williams we going to stick him in alongside VY George will establish dominance gradually overtime against botas and he'd be left with another really balanced one too now would VY have accepted that I'm sure he would have seen George Russell coming in as a great opportunity for him to be like you know what Toto I'm here I can actually lead this team going forward I don't think he's got the minerals to do that he's ever had the minerals to do that because Lewis Hamilton is generational and I think George Russell is proving now given how close he's been to Lewis since he jumps in the Mercedes he's pretty generational too instead for the last two and a bit Seasons Toto has been left trying to deal with two drivers who want to be number one there's no way Lewis is stepping back and letting George come through George has spent too long in Williams to just sit there as a number two and it has come to blows not in a super crazy high-profile way but imagine if the context of a lot of these tussles they've had since they've been teammates was for race wins I mean look at how hard they were racing each other in pan say for example last season at Suzuka imagine that's going for a race win between the two of them come on that would have been I mean entertainment of course I'd have loved that but Toto wouldn't have Toto would not have loved that in any way shape or form you can deal with it when you're in the Midfield being a bit mid like Mercedes are right now so then back to Kimmy Antonelli I do wonder you know he's 17 years age at the minute so he's not old enough to get into F1 even if they wanted to give him the seat he's already got the super license point I think he's got 67 or 69 something like that super license points because of how incredible he's been in uh in junior categories but Kim is not old enough and I'm not really sure who specifically Toto is worried about you know stealing him away I mean Ferrari would make sense they'd be the obvious one because he is the kid from bologna you know it's a ston throw for Marinello but they've just signed Lewis Hamilton they've got Char lur who's obviously there for the long term and once Lewis departs I mean olle Ban's probably going to get the H seat now Berg's been announced that he's going to be at Saba next season bman surely is going to be in with that seat he does need to step it up o in F2 but he's got enough Su super lense points so he doesn't really have to worry and yes of course Al were crazy naive to allow McLaren to sneak in and snap Oscar piastri away having given him a lot of mileage in Old Alpine cars I'm sure that's fed into Toto's fear of losing Kimmy but talking to McLaren I mean they've got Lando and Oscar settled for the long term maybe in some weird roundabout situation if Lando eventually goes to Red Bull replaces Max and Kimmy then becomes an option for Zack Brown maybe but that feels like a way off Aston Martin obviously going to retain the services of L stroll for the foreseeable it doesn't look like he's going to the wet project anytime soon and Fernando just signed a multi-year deal so sonoda Honda is probably a likely destination for him but it wouldn't be to replace Lance it seems cuz it seems he's not going anywhere I mean Red Bull is obviously an interesting one like to go alongside Max that ain't happening for kimy Antonelli but of course they do have racing balls right now you got Lawson Ricardo sonoda I mean there's talk like Christian saying that Lawson's not guaranteed anything which is wild because Liam lson is has to be on the grid in 2025 that would be the biggest Injustice um of any driver who doesn't make it through Lawson has to make it through surely they all feel like a stretch I don't think there's any clear and obvious threat to the employment of Kimmy Antonelli at Mercedes and I get Toto wanting to be cautious but he's still only 17 like don't push this too hard too soon I don't think he's the right driver for that Mercedes seat even in 2025 I don't I just don't they can keep giving them these private test days they can keep that data to themselves to see if he is the real deal because of course if he is the real deal get that contract slack down in front of him we saw Oscar took a year on the sidelines but because he'd done so much testing for alp he actually came into that McLaren seat in a pretty good place now for 2025 I still think I've said this I still think that Carlos science is the right driver for that seat he's at the peak of his powers right now and would be a really good test for George Russell as well if to Wolf can look at the situation be like right George has raced against leis Hamilton held his own struggled in race Place relative to Lewis granted but generally overlapping particularly held his own if Carlos science can come in and George can very much hold his own if not beat Carlos science in the the same car as teammates that should give Toto even more confidence than ever in the abilities of the man from King Linn however this Adrian neui bombshell right it's not confirmed but it's being widely reported by pretty much everyone in the not that he is going to leave Red Bull gardening leave you've got the rest of his contract which is till the end of 2025 so he wouldn't be looking to actually start another team until 2027 so maybe this is just I'm just going to tire and put my feet up in my I'm sure he's got plenty of money but I'm sure Aston Martin Lawrence STW War Ferrari going to be frying big big paycheck offers at him I said this in my video covering it I think a new lus Red Bull from 2026 onwards should be of a big concern to Max fora and not only are they developing their own power unit for the first time ever but Nei is the mind when it comes to ground effect of course in recent years Pierre was has started to step up and and take more responsibility for that team Ben waterhous as well the technical team they have at Red Bull it's not riing solely on Adrien yui but he is a figurehead Max does have a contract at Red Bull until 2028 but of course all the noise that Toto has been making again he's very public quoting of Max for stappen suggests that Mercedes damler maybe they do have the bag to buy him out of it when Toto was asked if Max is one of his top potential candidates recently Toto said let's word it like this I think this is a decision that Max needs to take and there is no team up and down the grid who wouldn't do handstands to have him in their car even George Russell when asked about Max as a potential teammate for him at Mercedes sounded very much up for it every team wants a good lineup as possible and Max is the best driver at the moment I would welcome anyone and believe I can beat anyone now to be fair I don't know how else George could really answer this question like realistically he can't be seen to be scared of Max for stappen coming in that wouldn't look good at all but do I actually believe that George believes in himself especially having read this and really understanding as much as I can who George is as a character I think he backs himself I think he thinks he could beat Max in a Mercedes so yeah with that I think it does genuinely leave four options on the table for Mercedes to fill their two seats from a long-term point of view anyway you've got a 17-year-old Andrea Kim Antonelli a 29-year-old caros junor a 26-year old Max V steppen and a 26-year-old George Russell the big risk for George I think is if Max makes the move to Mercedes because he has to accept the challenge he has to then at least match max if not beat him I'm not concerned about George if Carlos science comes in because I think Toto picks George any day of the week over science he's younger he's you know been supporting his career since he joined the Mercedes Junior program in 2016 I think there's a lot of belief there from from Toto side and certainly whatever happens there's no way George loses his seat at least before these current regulations end cuz you George has got his contract now until the end of 2025 so he's not guaranteed to be in that seat when the new RS come in it's likely but it's not guaranteed and it does strike me that all four of these names none of them look like they're lined up as being clear you know happy second number two drivers at that team right obviously if matx comes in he's going to want to be number one no doubt George I mean he's come in alongside leis Hamilton he's not sat down and just accepted a second driver position Carlo science has been much closer to charlot cler than I think well I I thought he would be and I think many people thought he would be I think he's taken a clear step forward and is at the top of his powers right now his racing IQ is pretty Second To None maybe up there with Fernando Alonzo and then if Andrea Kim Antonelli all this noise about him right and all this belief that too has if he delivers on that then well he's going to be a number one driver he's going to be another Max for stappen if he can actually convert and be that guy I really hope for George that Mercedes pull their finger out and give him a package to prove his Undisputed Talent with yes you can argue that they've always given him at least a a topend Midfield car and he has taken some of those opportunities not all I mean realistically you look across the grid and since Max has been dominating everyone's been liable to a mistake charlot has been liable to mistake leis Hamilton's been liable to a mistake even Fernando Alonzo has been liable to a mistake these drivers that we typically see as you know so consistent I think that fight behind Max is so tight that these drivers are overstepping every now and then George isn't alone in that it just feels like his mistakes have been a little bit more bit more high profile and also George he not the most popular driver so I think when he makes a mistake versus when certain other drivers make a mistake I think most of drivers in that top group make mistakes I think he probably gets a little bit more harsh criticism in my opinion anyway but it's fantastic in the rain he's got unreal self-confidence yet he's had enough moments that have humbled him uh the mistakes he's made I think they're kind of good for him cuz again reading this book like he's a driver with a big ego and he's always believed in himself but having those humbling moments I think is good for George he's tight with Toto but Toto is obliged to try and get the best drivers in the team and if that's Max for stappen that's Max for stappen but then that makes George's career at that team a lot more precarious get your out together please Mercedes cuz I think if they can he's more than capable of fighting for a championship but let me know what you think in the comments down below do you if you were to Wolf would you trust in George or would you be thinking you know what Antonelli and maybe someone else is the right decision long term I'd like to hear what you have to say drop a like on this video If you enjoyed it don't forget to subscribe to this YouTube Channel as well thank you all for watching my name's Tomo thanks again have a good t [Music]

Channel: Tommo

Views: 168,994

Keywords: Tommo F1, Formula 1, Formula One, f1 youtube, f1 youtuber, formula 1 youtube, formula 1 youtuber, Tommo, F1 2023, Formula 1 2023, TommoF1, george russell, russell

Id: BFd-v9kl9Ls

Length: 16min 43sec (1003 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 29 2024