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“And our guest on today’s show is a man who everybody thought would be driving towards the back of the F1 grid for at least one more season but is now suddenly faced with the task of driving for the team that has won the Constructors Championship for the last seven years. George Russell, joining us via videocall from his flat in London. Welcome.”
“Hello, it’s nice to be here, especially with such great news to talk about.”
“Great and exiting the news are indeed. Tell us, when did Mercedes break the news to you? And were you in the bathroom like when Mercedes made you part of their junior programme and like just a few weeks back when you were called to replace Lewis Hamilton in Sakhir who had caught Covid?”
“I think the call was one to two weeks ago There were still some things to settle so it wasn’t made public right away. And yes, I was in the bathroom when the first indication of the news got trough. However, this time Toto texted me first instead of calling right away, I think he wanted to prevent a repeat. Of course I called him back right away.
When he gets out of his post workout shower, George halts in his routine for a moment as he sees his phone lying on the counter, the small notification light blinking blue, and then rushes to get himself ready to find out what’s going on. Blue’s his notification colour for all messages and calls from important Mercedes team personnel. Mostly they only contact him during the off-season if it’s important, and then they’d call right away. Did he miss the call? But that doesn’t make sense, he tells himself while drying off his hair and styling it a half-heartedly, his phone’s never in do not disturb or anything, even when he’s with Alex his notifications are on, he’d never forgive himself for missing the once in a lifetime opportunity. Still, there’s a notification dot, so someone has tried to contact him. Weird.
After hurriedly pulling a shirt over his head, and probably messing his hair up in the process, he finally takes his phone off the counter. The blue light’s still blinking. And upon opening the phone, he can now see the message that was sent his way just ten minutes ago.
Toto: Hey George, we have some important news concerning your F1 seat next year. Please call me as soon as you see this.
What – what does that mean ‘news concerning your F1 seat’? George panics for a moment, fearing that it means he won’t be driving next year because someone wealthier has come in to take his seat, but then calms himself down again, that wouldn’t make sense. Williams adore him, he delivers the best possible results and never complains about the limitations of the car, they wouldn’t just drop him. Especially since the new owners and Nicky’s father bring in a comfortable amount of money. Besides, Mercedes wouldn’t let that happen.
But what’s it then? Maybe – just call Toto and you’ll find out, his inner voice tells him and George follows the suggestion after taking a deep breath in, bracing himself for whatever follows.
Toto answers immediately. “Hello George, great that you’re calling so quickly. I hope you’re not in the bathroom this time?” His voice further calms George down, it doesn’t sound like bad news.
“Well then, the saga continues, at least somewhat. How was your reaction upon hearing the news?”
“To be honest, I couldn’t really believe it for quite some while. There had maybe been some hope after my promising appearance at Sakhir, but nothing came of that. Which was sad, but also understandable. You don’t fire a good driver over one good result. Therefore I settled on doing everything to be in a more competitive car for 2022 and well, the news now came out of the blue.”
This is not real. This is not real. This is not real.
George tells himself that over and over.
Because it can’t be.
This can’t be real.
This has to be a fault.
Or some kind of joke.
He’d dreamed about it, sure, but never believed it to actually become reality so soon. His eyes had always been set on 2022, and he’d been fairly confident in thinking he’d achieve that, especially after Sakhir. George had dismissed the talks of fans and media, calling for his appointment to Mercedes for the next season, not wanting to unnecessarily get his hopes up and then shattered again. This can’t be reality.
Still. Looking back at his phone after pacing through his room. The message stays there. As does the call in his call history.
And Toto’s explanations kind of make sense. That Valtteri had decided to leave F1 out of personal reasons and that George is the obvious choice to replace him. Because they were so content with his performances and progress in both the Williams and the Mercedes. But George still can’t believe it.
Him in a Mercedes. The championship winning team. Alongside one of the best drivers of F1 history. This year.
How did this happen?
(He knows how, but still can’t believe his luck in everything turning out this way.)
(He wouldn’t have gotten the drive this time last year, he’s sure of that.)
“Who was the first one to hear the happy news after it settled in for you?”
“It was a tough decision because I really wanted to tell my family first, they’re the ones who supported me on my way here after all, but I knew they’d be too excited to hold back the news for however long it would take for the news to be official, so in the end I ended up texting the Twitch Quartet group chat instead. It took them some time to understand what I was telling them, but in the end they were all really happy for me.”
George is doing laps of his living room, trying to make the news settle in. Make his brain realise. It doesn’t help. It’s probably like saying a word over and over, repeating it just doesn’t help, on the contrary, it makes it worse.
He opens his phone for about the 1000th time to check if the message and phone call are still there – they are, of course they are – when another idea comes to his mind. Maybe telling someone would help? That sounds like a good plan.
At first, he thinks of telling his family. His mother and father who always supported him and sacrificed so much, and his older siblings, who cheered him up better than anybody else could when he was down after a bad result. He wants to tell them but doubts they’ll be able to keep it a secret. Because well, it happened before that relatives or family friends congratulated him before the news were official since his parents were too excited to keep silent.
And this time it isn’t even like he could tell them to just keep it silent for two days. Toto said it would take some time to settle everything around Valtteri leaving and creating a new contract, up to three weeks until George is announced.
But not telling anybody would make realizing it harder.
The next person he thinks of telling is Alex. Of course it is. He’d trust his boyfriend with anything. Besides, racing drivers are generally quite good at the whole privacy and keeping things behind closed doors thing. That leads George to another idea. Maybe he should tell the whole Twitch Quartet? Since yeah, if he’d only be able to tell one person, he’d tell Alex, but right now, he really feels like sharing it with more people. Wanting to see how proud his friends are of him.
The next question now is, how does he tell them? Sure, he could just break the news to them by literally saying it. But that’d be too easy, right?
George contemplates many different options, now sitting on the sofa instead of running around it, some ideas more straight forward, others more fun.
In the end, he decides on a quite subtle way, wanting to see if his friends will pick up on what he’s hinting at. Alex certainly will. Lando and Charles? That’s questionable.
George quickly changes into a Mercedes shirt, now wanting to go through with his plan as fast as possible, and takes a quick picture, sending it to the group chat with the caption ‘BREAKING NEWS’.
Lando: HE’S WEARING A SHIRT
Charles: BREAKING NEWS: George is wearing a shirt for once
Lando: stop copying my ideas :(
Charles: Just don’t have the same as me then!!!
Lando: i hate you :((((
Charles: Hate you more <3
Alex <3: Can you not behave like kids for once?
Lando: noooooooooooooo
Charles: NOOO
George is confused at Alex’s reaction at first. Is he not going to comment on the picture? Didn’t he get what George wants to say, just like their two friends?
It’s only a second after George has that thought that a video call from Alex appears. Well, no need to worry about that then, he thinks whilst answering the call. He’s immediately faced with a bright grinning Alex, who’s cuddling Horsey.
“Does it mean what I think it does?” Alex asks. George’s huge smile is probably already answer enough.
“Telling your friends sure is a good option if telling your family isn’t possible and well, who could be mad at them for being too excited to keep the secret. Sadly, that’s it for our interview with 2021 Mercedes driver George Russell. Thank you very much for your time and good luck for the season George.”
“Thank you, it was a pleasure to be here and I’m excited for what the season has to bring. Have a nice day.”
“As George now leaves us, we’ll have a look at what consequences his step up has. Obviously, Valtteri Bottas is out of a seat and out of F1. But as it seems that was his own decision. We’re excited to have an interview with him this time next week, in which we’ll talk about his decision to leave the sport, as well as reflecting on his career. Other than that, George moving to Mercedes means, that there’s a seat free down at Williams. It’ll be interesting to see who’ll fill that gap. There’s loads of speculations right now, with suggestions ranging from Jack Aitken, Williams academy member and one-time F1 Grand Prix racer, to Nico Hülkenberg, the man holding the record for most races without a podium. Other than congratulations for George, there’s no news about his replacement from Williams’ side as of yet. Only time will tell.”