Toto Wolff’s ‘Project George Russell’ is complete.

The win may have been taken away from him, but nobody can take away the plaudits from George Russell after his incredible drive at the 2024 Belgian GP. Albeit assisted by having an underweight car, Russell pulled off a spectacular feat to cross the line first after starting P6, the second-last qualifier from the Top 4 teams.

George Russell may not have gotten the win, the qualities he exhibited in the process would mean much more to Toto Wolff in the long run than the points in the present.

Mercedes finally have the ‘Number 1 Driver’ they need for when Lewis Hamilton leaves. Toto Wolff’s Project George Russell is complete. Here’s why.

What did Mercedes want from George Russell?

On the 19th of January, 2017, Mercedes and Toto Wolff officially began ‘Project George Russell’. At the time, Mercedes had just lost their newly crowned World Champion Nico Rosberg and the more subdued Valtteri Bottas was announced as his replacement.

George Russell was announced as a Mercedes Junior Driver in January 2017.

Bottas was never meant to be the World Champion. His primary role involved being the perfect wingman to Lewis Hamilton in the years when Mercedes reigned supreme over the other teams, a tough and potentially demoralizing role he played with excellence.

A calmer number two driver only works as long as a team is dominant, though. As soon as the rivals start snapping at your feet, a feisty, potential World Champion is needed in the second car to win the Constructors’ World Championship. Mercedes and Toto Wolff knew this all along. The driver they intended to fit in this role would be either Esteban Ocon or George Russell.

What would Toto Wolff want from them? The intention behind bringing drivers through the academy pipeline is to develop future team leaders, who can lead a team to a World Championship if they fight for it.

The making of a ‘Number 1 Driver’

A great ‘Number 1 Driver’ is one who the team can build their championship challenge around.

Think of all the great ‘Number 1 Drivers’ in Formula 1 history and a common framework emerges for what they must be like:

• Be a dependable and reliable finisher
• Be an excellent qualifier
• Be able to sustain immense pressure, on and off the track
• Be decisive during battles on track
• Be able to ace tyre management
• Be able to maximise the returns from the worst possible situation
• Be adaptable to and strong in all types of racing conditions
• Have excellent communication and feedback to contribute to development

Lewis Hamilton has been the perfect ‘Number 1 Driver’ for Mercedes in the last decade. Image credits: Planet F1

Most Formula 1 World Champions tick all these boxes: Verstappen, Hamilton, Schumacher, Prost, Senna, the lot. That said, winning a World Championship also needs a pinch of luck on your side.  The true value of a ‘Number One Driver’ is if they can take a team towards the point of fighting for a World Championship through these qualities.

Think of what Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso were for Ferrari in the years they didn’t win. Think of how they stood head and shoulders above great talents like Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and Giancarlo Fisichella during their stint in Formula 1.  Both were rewarded with World Championships in their younger days with Red Bull and Renault respectively, but they brought that dependability, flexibility and pure speed associated with a ‘Number 1 Driver’ to Ferrari, only to run out of luck.

Most World Champions show these ‘Number 1 Driver’ traits very early in their career, before their first title fight. In the last few weeks alone, we have seen George Russell tick every one of these boxes.

How George Russell has shown he has what it takes

Mercedes have won 3 of the last 4 Grands Prix at the time of writing. In these four races, George Russell has exhibited every one of the lead driver qualities that Toto Wolff would have expected him to have someday when signing him.

Image Credits: F1.com

For instance, at the 2024 Austrian GP, when Verstappen and Norris’ clash opened the door for George Russell to steal a win in the dying laps, he showed the advantage of being a dependable finisher who makes the best of whatever he gets. At one point in the race, Lewis Hamilton was the lead Mercedes. Be it only for P3, Russell fought hard and got the best of what he had.

Luck is the result of opportunity meeting preparation. At the Austrian GP, George Russell put himself in the prime spot to take the win if it came to him.

Then, at the 2024 British GP, his immense ability as a qualifier was exhibited when he put the Mercedes on pole in changeable conditions ahead of statistically, the greatest F1 qualifier of all time, Lewis Hamilton. In fact, this season, their qualifying head-to-head stands at 4-10 in favour of Russell as of the 2024 Belgian GP.

His resilience was tested immediately afterwards as a technical problem forced him to DNF from a race that his teammate Lewis Hamilton won on merit. That could have been his win, too.

George Russell leads Lewis Hamilton 10-4 in their H2H Qualifying battle. Image credits: BBC

As is always the case in Russell’s career, one challenge is followed by a bigger one immediately afterwards. A team error in deciding the right run plan in qualifying at the 2024 Hungarian GP saw him qualify in a rare P17 at a track where he took pole two seasons ago. On Sunday though, his mental toughness was on display as he salvaged a P8 finish with a brilliant recovery drive at a track that is notoriously tough to pass.

Finally, at the 2024 Belgian GP, we saw Russell’s tyre management masterclass, which was topped up by Russell’s decisiveness in on-track battles and ability to sustain pressure as he fended of a fast-charging Lewis Hamilton with much fresher tyres in the final few laps of the race.

Moreover, Russell already has experience in leading car development and providing feedback from his time at being the lead driver at a struggling Williams at just the age of 22. If there’s anyone who knows how to work with the engineers to maximise the car’s performance, it is him.

The next step forward for George Russell, Mercedes and Toto Wolff

Now that George Russell has proven that he has what it takes to be able to lead a big team like Mercedes, the monkey is truly off Toto Wolff’s back. He has finally seen a young driver develop from merely a talent to someone who can keep up with Lewis and replace him as the team’s main main.

Not having to face the stress of signing a ‘Number 1 Driver’ from the external market, Toto Wolff can now focus on advancing the next stage of his new pet project: ‘Project Kimi Antonelli’.

Image Credits: F1 Oversteer

Had Russell not been exhibiting the qualities he had been lately, Mercedes would be forced into hiring a reliable ‘Number 2 Driver’, if not a Russell equivalent like Carlos Sainz Jr. George Russell’s excellence and reliability frees up Toto Wolff and Mercedes to develop Kimi Antonelli into a future World Champion in the second car, similar to what Red Bull Racing did with Max Verstappen.

With the car now winning races, Russell reaching his potential and a young superstar like Kimi Antonelli waiting in the wings, the fulfilment of ‘Project George Russell’ is one huge pillar on the journey to fulfil ‘The Mercedes Revival Project’.

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