George Russell will reach a century of Grand Prix starts for Mercedes-AMG F1 this weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, a milestone the team marked by highlighting six of his finest performances since joining the Silver Arrows operation.
Mercedes published an official retrospective celebrating Russell’s journey from a one-off substitute driver in 2020 to a consistent race winner and cornerstone of the team’s lineup alongside Kimi Antonelli. The 100-race landmark encompasses victories in São Paulo, Canada, Singapore, and Australia, along with drives that cemented Russell’s reputation as one of the most complete performers on the current grid.
Russell’s Mercedes story began before he was officially on the books. Deputising for an unwell Lewis Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix while still a Williams driver, Russell qualified within 0.03 seconds of experienced teammate Valtteri Bottas and led the race on the shortened Bahrain International Circuit layout. Pit stop problems and a late puncture denied him victory, but a P9 finish delivered his first World Championship points and served notice of what was to come.
His maiden win arrived at the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix. Having already accumulated seven podiums in his first full Mercedes season, Russell started from pole by virtue of his Sprint victory and led virtually every lap to claim a breakthrough triumph. The 2024 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps showcased a different dimension of his skill. Russell identified that tyre degradation was lower than predicted before any rival, committing to a single pit stop on lap 10 and holding off Hamilton in the closing stages. He was ultimately disqualified for an underweight car, but the strategic acumen of the drive was widely acknowledged.
The 2025 season proved particularly fruitful. At the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada, Russell held off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in qualifying and converted pole position into a commanding victory. He repeated the feat in Singapore, a venue that had previously delivered misfortune including a devastating final-lap crash in 2023. At Marina Bay, Russell again took pole ahead of Verstappen and managed the demanding conditions to win comfortably.
Russell’s most recent highlighted performance came at the season-opening 2026 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, the first race under Formula 1’s new technical regulations. After qualifying on pole ahead of Antonelli, a slow getaway handed the lead to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. What followed was an extended duel that Mercedes described as a brilliant example of the new overtake mode in action, with Russell and Leclerc trading positions across several laps. Following two virtual safety car deployments, Russell reasserted control in the W17 and led Antonelli home for a one-two finish.
The Barcelona milestone underscores Russell’s evolution into a team leader at Mercedes. From a borrowed seat in Bahrain to anchoring the squad through a regulation revolution, his century of starts reflects a driver who has consistently delivered at the highest level across multiple eras of machinery.