Russell: I've paid off everything my father spent on me.

      George Russell said that he had paid his parents one and a half million pounds, which his father had spent to finance his son's career in motorsport.

      Russell was accepted into the Mercedes youth program in early 2017, after which he won titles in series such as GP3 (now Formula 3) and F2, and in 2019 he made his Formula 1 debut as part of Williams, a Mercedes customer team, and in 2022 he became Lewis Hamilton's teammate, replacing Valtteri Bottas..

      In an interview with the London tabloid Daily Mail, he said that in 2012, his father, Steve Russell, had to sell his grain business in order to pay for his son's performances internationally. That year, George was 14 years old and became the European champion in kart racing in the KF3 class.

      "My father sold his business to finance my career," said Russell, who has reached the podium in four of the six Grands Prix already held and is ranked 4th in the individual standings. – In those parts where we lived then, my father was a very successful man.

      Between the ages of seven and 16, you're not mature enough to understand what your parents are doing for you. My father worked from morning to late at night to earn money, which I used to race on weekends.… He was under serious stress at work, and if I made stupid mistakes, he would get very angry.

      There were happy moments in those years, but I also have a lot of sad memories of my parents fighting because my father was so strict with me. Mom tried to restrain him somehow… I was expected to always start from pole position and win every race, or at least always be on the podium.…

      Thanks to my father, I became what I am today. He always noticed what I could add, but he never saw anything positive. I follow this approach: I always see what makes it possible to perform better, but I also try to see the positive.…

      Life is not that simple, there are a lot of stresses associated with work and everything else. And I will always be grateful to my father for what he did. I just accepted his attitude towards me, accepted that when I didn't win, he would be unhappy with me.…

      I paid off everything he spent on me back then. As soon as I started earning, I immediately said that I wanted to return everything – it was about 1.5 million pounds..."