Russell 'jealous' of young F1 rivals in more competitive cars

George Russell admits he is jealous of many of his rivals through the junior categories already being in more competitive machinery in Formula 1.

The Williams driver dominated the 2018 Formula 2 championship, following in Charles Leclerc’s footsteps and stepping up to F1 after winning the title. While Leclerc is about to enter his second season for Ferrari, Russell has yet to score a point after his debut year in the sport, and the two men he beat in 2018 -- Alex Albon and Lando Norris -- are driving for Red Bull and McLaren respectively after graduating at the same time.

“We’re all youngsters, we all want to have that successful career and races and victories right here in the moment,” Russell (pictured at right above with Leclerc and Carlos Sainz) told Sky Sports. “But even like Nico Rosberg -- I don’t know how old he was before he won his first race and how many years he had in F1 but if you’re doing the job and you’re performing, we’ll all get our chance. That’s all I can do at the moment.

“Seeing my mates up there in potential championship-winning cars is something I’m a little bit jealous of, obviously, because I want to be up there trying to fight as well. But nevertheless I know that as long as I keep on performing and I keep on doing my job to the best of my ability, that opportunity will come. Whether it’s next year, two years, five years, 10 years… it should come.”

More Formula 1

Herta’s FP1 debut for Cadillac confirmed in Barcelona

‘Expectations are automatically a bit different now,’ Antonelli admits

Russell reckons both career achievements and current plight play into Verstappen quit threat

Russell is under contract at Williams until the end of 2021 but is a Mercedes driver and has been linked with a seat there in future. The 22-year-old admits he is waiting to see if a move could happen sooner rather than later given the change in line-ups at a number of other teams, after Carlos Sainz was signed by Ferrari and Daniel Ricciardo will replace the Spaniard at McLaren.

“The fact is I’m contracted to Williams at the moment. It’s no secret I’m also contracted to Mercedes -- they effectively own me, they’re my managers. At the moment I’m fully focused on the job ahead. Plenty of speculation, but we don’t like to comment on speculation! So time will tell.

“What will happen in the future, we’ll see. Obviously big shake-ups at the front of the grid change the dynamic a lot. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of weeks and months to see who fills the rest of the spots on the grid.”