George Russell claims he would have received world championship if he had Lando Norris’s McLaren… and insists British rival has ‘thrown away a whole lot of factors’ in title conflict with Max Verstappen

One of the greats has tried and so has an aspiring pup. But none of the last two British drivers who tried to bring down Max Verstappen managed it.

Lewis Hamilton might blame officialdom in Abu Dhabi while Lando Norris can only look at himself and rue a chance that may not come again if he drives until he is 100.

So now we come to the Mercedes motorhome and the 26-year-old who won last week’s Las Vegas race in imperious style.

‘Yes, absolutely,’ says George Russell, as quick as a flash when I ask him if he would have won the title in Norris’s McLaren.

Would he have edged it in Verstappen’s Red Bull? ‘For sure.’

Russell is not a braggart. He is a decent man and there is a growing sense in his mind that his time is now – or, more precisely, next season. 

George Russell thinks he would have won the championship in Lando Norris’s McLaren

Norris can look at himself and rue a chance that may not come again if he drives until he is 100

Russell also claims he would have driven Max Verstappen’s Red Bull to glory

That requires Mercedes to furnish the Norfolk-born aspirant with a suitably competitive car, but that caveat apart he has no doubts he can step up.

He will become No 1 at the Silver Arrows when Lewis Hamilton leaves for Ferrari in January. But even now the stats provide a good report across Russell’s three years up against the man he calls the GOAT. 

In 2022, Russell outscored Hamilton; in 2023, Hamilton led the way; this season, Russell heads Hamilton by nine points heading into tomorrow’s penultimate race in Qatar.

‘Lewis leaving doesn’t change much,’ reasoned Russell. ‘I will be entering seven years of Formula One. I am ready to fight for a world championship.

‘I’ve learned a huge amount from Lewis, but I am very pleased with my own performance. If my car hadn’t been technically underweight in Belgium, leading to disqualification after I won there, I would be leading Lewis by about 40 points.

‘Max has won once in the last 12 races so he is very beatable. The difference (between Verstappen and Norris) is that when Max has had the chance he has won, whereas his rivals who should have beaten him this year did not.

‘They (Norris and McLaren) have thrown away a lot of points and therefore Max, who is an exceptional driver, has won the championship early.

‘I say I could have won in the Red Bull because it was the quickest car at the start. Even “Checo” (Perez) was second a few times. It’s only in the second half of the season that they were the third best team.’

He will become No 1 at the Silver Arrows when Lewis Hamilton leaves for Ferrari in January

In 2022, Russell outscored Hamilton; in 2023, Hamilton led the way; this season, Russell heads Hamilton by nine points

He draws a contrast with Norris’s form by pointing to his own returns in a mercurial Mercedes that is overall the fourth best on the grid. ‘If you look at the three times we have had a chance to take pole we have done so on all of them,’ said Russell.

‘All the races where we were capable of winning we have done that, other than in Montreal. On the majority of occasions, we came away with the best result we could.’

After winning in Las Vegas, Russell cancelled his scheduled flight to party in Sin City. He called in at the Vegas Club with his Mercedes team and then onwards with his Spanish girlfriend Carmen Montero Mundt. Hamilton was a no-show throughout.

So, was it a wild night in Sin City to cap the best of his three career victories?

‘It was good,’ reported Russell, though he did not overdo the celebrations, adding: ‘I thought I want to experience this again, that I have another race this weekend, and I want to f****** win it.’

So spoke a champion of the future.