GEORGE THE GIANT IS OUT TO CRACK F1 ...and chocolate is banned!
WAITERS carried trays of chocolate lollipops to assuage the heat in the desert paddock. But the teenager hoping to be the Next Big Thing in British motor racing would not be tempted by all the ice cream under the sun.
At 6ft 2in, George Russell is the man Willy Wonka can forget. Among the jockeys of grand prix racing — Lewis Hamilton is 5ft 7in — he stands out for his stringiness. Russell weighs just 10st 4lb, and it requires a diet of the virtuous to keep his Formula One dream in shape.
The 19-year-old from Norfolk is on course to bolster British ranks, which are likely to have an unprecedented low of only one representative on the grid next season. To that end, Russell will take part in practice in Abu Dhabi.
He is signed up as a Mercedes junior and has been handed over for experience and improvement to Force India, whose car he will drive today.
He is Mercedes’ answer to McLaren’s own rising star, 18-year- old prodigy Lando Norris. They will take on each other next season in Formula Two. One or both may fall by the wayside. More likely one or both will make his way to the premier grid for 2019.
‘Given my height, I have to be quite strict with my diet,’ said Russell. ‘I cannot have ice cream or chocolates. After r a few months eating healthily y you are immune to those attractions. If I do treat myself, I don’t feel that well.’
Breakfast is prepared the night before: he soaks oats in n water and puts them in the fridge. He adds berries or r banana or yoghurt. It takes a while to digest.
‘I have three meals a day and usually a snack between n breakfast and lunch, and lunch and dinner. Salad plays a big part — tomatoes, peppers, carrots. Also, protein — chicken, salmon, steak — plus pasta, sweet potatoes or rice. I have to keep sugar to a minimum. I am maintaining my weight at 66kg.’
Russell was born in King’s Lynn and educated at Wisbech Grammar School in the surrounding area, where his father Steve, 62, was involved in a lucrative beans and peas business.
Since selling up, Steve and Russell’s mother Alison, a former hairdresser, have travelled with him on his career. Steve was mechanic supreme. Alison wrote down tyre pressures and set-ups in a book.
After Russell won various championships, the family received substantial bids for the book and its magical data. The offers were declined.
One of the joys of Russell’s recent tutelage has been to sit in Mercedes debriefs with Hamilton. ‘I take it in. Lewis has not offered any specific advice, but I am sure he would if I asked. I use my ears rather than my mouth.’
But Russell is not without ambition, and rightly so judging by his impressive grand prix testing debut in Brazil a fortnight ago, when he was only half-a-second slower than the man driving the same car, Frenchman Esteban Ocon.
‘My realistic aim is to be in Formula One in 2019, though I know that won’t be at Mercedes, at least at first,’ added Russell. ‘I want to be world champion one day. But it is about taking it step by step.’
As for height, it is not always a barrier in this oily Lilliput. The tallest world champion was Britain’s bow-tie wearing Mike Hawthorn. He, like the Next Big Thing, stood 6ft 2in.