A member of the Mercedes Junior Team since 2017, Russell signed for Williams in 2019 to partner Robert Kubica, making his Formula One debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

He substituted for Lewis Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix for Mercedes, but was denied victory due to a team error and a puncture after leading the majority of the race.

As of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Russell has achieved three race wins, five pole positions, eight fastest laps and 15 podiums in Formula One.

[24] Looking back, Russell said that Tech 1 Racing (his other option to replace Prema) would have been a better fit,[22] but strongly praised de Vries, remarking that he "was always one of the very best,"[25] and that especially "in go-karting, he was the man to beat.

[31][32] In 2015, Russell finished sixth,[33] winning one race[34] and collecting three podiums; PaddockScout opined that his qualifying pace was "his one obvious weak-spot.

[37] At season's end, BMW offered him a DTM drive, but he chose to stay in F3 to compete for a spot on the Mercedes Junior Team.

[32] That year, Prema allegedly received special engines from Mercedes[38] and technical support (including a suspension upgrade) from Williams.

"[42] With financial help from Mercedes, Russell secured a drive with ART Grand Prix, GP3's dominant team, for the 2017 season.

Russell scored four wins and seven podiums, finishing 79 points ahead of the second-placed Jack Aitken, and locked up the title with two races to go.

[44] Notable races included a dominant performance at Spa-Francorchamps (a win, a second place, two poles, and two fastest laps)[45] and a close three-way battle at Monza.

[48] The 2018 F2 grid was "possibly the strongest field of the [] decade",[49] and featured several future F1 racers, including Lando Norris, Alexander Albon, Nyck de Vries, and Nicholas Latifi.

[51] In October 2015, Russell drove a Formula One car for the first time, when he tested the McLaren MP4-26 at Silverstone as a prize for winning the 2014 Autosport BRDC Award.

[83] Russell scored his first points at the Sakhir Grand Prix, following a surprise promotion to the Mercedes senior team when Lewis Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19.

[85][86] He narrowly missed out on pole position,[87] overtook teammate Valtteri Bottas at the first corner, and led the majority of the race.

[88][89] He overtook Bottas a second time, recovered to second place, and was closing in on race leader Sergio Pérez, when a puncture forced him to pit again with ten laps to go.

[128] The drivers swapped testing duties every race,[129] although team boss Toto Wolff said that Hamilton was unlucky because the experiments assigned to him backfired.

After some promising performances at the start of the season (leading the Australian Grand Prix until an untimely red flag[138] and scoring a podium at Barcelona[139]), Russell's results declined in the second half of the season for a variety of reasons, including a record seven pit stops in one race (Zandvoort),[140] an accidental last-lap crash (Singapore),[141] an over-aggressive strategy call (Suzuka),[142] and Hamilton colliding into him after a front-row start (Lusail).

[143] Russell salvaged a measure of pride with a third-place finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which clinched second place in the Constructors' Championship for Mercedes.

After the Abu Dhabi race, Russell commented that he had "let the side down a couple of times this year", but that it meant "a huge amount" to help the team finish second.

Russell reeled off some of his best results in years, including a pole and podium in Montreal,[149][150] his second career race victory at Spielberg (albeit after the first two drivers collided in front of him),[151][152] a pole at Silverstone (followed by a mechanical retirement),[153] and the first Formula One race win (at Spa) lost to a post-race disqualification since 1994,[154][155] for which the team took responsibility.

[158][159] Russell dominated the Las Vegas Grand Prix, qualifying on pole and leading 49 of 50 laps to take his third career victory.

"[172] During the 2024 season, the racing press suggested that Russell's style might be a better fit for the present generation of ground effect cars than Hamilton's,[172][173] with Mark Hughes adding that Mercedes' successful midseason upgrades accentuated this F1-wide trend.

At Williams, the Briton drove an unimpressive car to unexpectedly high grid placements on several occasions, most notably Spa 2021 (second) and Sochi 2021 (third).

[185] In addition, at the 2022 British Grand Prix, Russell jumped out of his car to check on Zhou Guanyu following a major first-lap crash, even though it triggered his own retirement from the race.

[190] Russell's tyre management received renewed praise during the 2024 season, following strong performances at Spa,[191] Austin,[192] and Monaco.

Russell holds the record for most pit stops in a single race (7 at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix), shared with Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, and Alain Prost.

[197] As a director, Russell's primary role is to relay the paddock's concerns about safety, racing quality, and the junior driver pipeline to the GPDA's full-time personnel.

[202][203] Russell has been known to be vocal about mental health issues and has often spoken about his own experiences seeing a psychologist to improve his on-track performance and off-track wellbeing.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he joined with fellow Formula One drivers Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, and Alex Albon to stream racing games on Twitch.

2005  N. Rosberg 2006  L. Hamilton 2007  T. Glock 2008  G. Pantano 2009  N. Hülkenberg 2010  P. Maldonado 2011  R. Grosjean 2012  D. Valsecchi 2013  F. Leimer 2014  J. Palmer 2015  S. Vandoorne 2016  P. Gasly 2017  C. Leclerc 2018  G. Russell 2019  N. de Vries 2020  M. Schumacher 2021  O. Piastri 2022  F. Drugovich 2023  T. Pourchaire 2024  G. Bortoleto 2010  E. Gutiérrez 2011  V. Bottas 2012  M. Evans 2013  D. Kvyat 2014  A. Lynn 2015  E. Ocon 2016  C. Leclerc 2017  G. Russell 2018  A. Hubert 2019  R. Shwartzman 2020  O. Piastri 2021  D. Hauger 2022  V. Martins 2023  G. Bortoleto 2024  L. Fornaroli