Ex-F1 boss reveals they refused to promote Mercedes star

George Russell, Mercedes, Britain, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Ex-F1 boss reveals they refused to promote Mercedes star

A Mercedes star missed out on a F1 promotion

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 11 May 2025 11:58

George Russell missed out on an early Mercedes promotion after his former team boss blocked a move for the F1 star.

Prior to joining Mercedes, Russell began his F1 career at Williams and later admitted his three-year stint was ‘too long’.

However, former Williams team principal and daughter of founder Frank Williams, Claire Williams revealed that she did not want to let Russell go to Mercedes because he was so valuable to her team.

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“George wanted to go to Mercedes in that last couple of years and I couldn't let him go and I hated that,” Williams said on F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast.

“It makes me upset to think about it. I needed him, I felt, more than Mercedes and he was in contract. If I let him go, what message would that have sent? What would that have done to my team if I'd have let George go?

“He was one of the greatest things that we had at Williams. When you go into a negotiation with a team like Mercedes and they're not offering you what they should be for your A-star driver, then why would you just let him go? What kind of Team Principal would I have been if I'd have just let George go because Mercedes said, ‘we want George now’. That's not how it works, is it?”

Russell blocked from early Mercedes promotion

Russell joined Williams in 2018, the year they finished last in the constructors’ championship despite enjoying podium and points-paying finishes in the previous seasons.

In a separate appearance on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Russell admitted that the reason he spent three years at Williams was because Claire Williams was so good at contract negotiations.

Williams stepped down as team principal in 2020, and has since reflected on the difficulty of the contract situation.

“[George] was clearly upset and it was really difficult. It was very hard to stand my ground because if someone comes to me and they're upset, and it's because of me because I'm a blocker, it's really hard – but I had to put my team first,” Williams added.

“As much as I would have loved to have made George's dreams come true, I couldn't at the time, and that was one of the hardest parts of being a Team Principal for me. And I always said to George: you will be grateful for this one day because it will build resilience in you, it will build strength.”

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F1 Mercedes George Russell Williams Claire Williams