British
George Russell is the British driver whose 2018 FIA Formula 2 title, won as a rookie in commanding style, completed a back-to-back junior sweep and propelled him toward a Formula 1 career with Williams and ultimately Mercedes.
Junior career
A Mercedes junior, Russell first announced himself by winning the 2017 GP3 Series with ART Grand Prix, becoming only the second driver to win the GP3/F3 title as a rookie. He carried that momentum directly into Formula 2.
Formula 2
Russell stepped up to FIA Formula 2 in 2018 with ART Grand Prix and dominated what was widely regarded as one of the strongest grids of the decade, a field that included Lando Norris, Alex Albon, Nyck de Vries and Nicholas Latifi. He sealed the championship in Abu Dhabi with 287 points, seven wins and seven pole positions, finishing 79 points clear of runner-up Jack Aitken. The title made him the fifth rookie champion of the GP2/F2 category, after Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hülkenberg and Charles Leclerc, and the second driver to win both the GP3/F3 and GP2/F2 titles as a rookie, after Leclerc.
After F2
The championship earned Russell a Williams F1 seat for 2019. After years of extracting more than the car deserved, including a famous stand-in drive for Mercedes at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, he graduated to the works Mercedes team in 2022 and became a grand prix winner. His 2018 F2 season remains a benchmark for rookie dominance against elite opposition.