Could Russell match Verstappen’s shock debut victory feat?

George Russell has dropped into the Mercedes setup with consummate ease, qualifying second at Sakhir. With parallels between his promotion and that of Max Verstappen in 2016, could he repeat the Red Bull driver's feat and win first time out?

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As impressive as George Russell's Formula 1 career may have been to date, the way he has seamlessly slotted into the Mercedes squad in Bahrain has been remarkable.

A little over 24 hours after driving the Mercedes W11 car for the very first time in place of COVID-positive Lewis Hamilton, Russell qualified second for the Sakhir Grand Prix, falling just 0.026 seconds shy of a maiden pole position as he lost out narrowly to teammate Valtteri Bottas.

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Author Luke Smith

Luke Smith is Autosport’s Formula 1 reporter. Luke has been working in F1 as a journalist since 2013, initially alongside a History degree at University College London. Luke served as the lead F1 writer at American broadcaster NBC Sports from 2013-17 before spending two years as the F1 Editor for Crash.net. Luke joined Autosport for the 2020 season.

Luke is also a contributor to The New York Times for its F1 special reports, and has previously worked with Al Jazeera and CNBC, as well as hosting FIA press conferences. Outside of F1, Luke is a fan of sports and music, with an ever-growing vinyl collection, and has being bitten by the running bug in recent years. He also runs a surprisingly popular blog reviewing the often-terrible media centre coffee from his F1 travels.