Before this, in what he believed was the right choice for his career at the time, Russell initially turned down Mercedes’ sponsorship offer for the European F3 Championship. Instead, the Briton chose to go with Carlin and Volkswagen.
While Russell was unsure about the deal with Mercedes, team boss Toto Wolff was certain the team could benefit from such talent and warned him that he would most likely regret refusing the offer ahead of F3.
He understood that a path with BMW would not necessarily take him to F1, and turning down the offer would mean the Briton would have absolutely no future with Mercedes. The main hesitation, however, came from the fact that the German team was not giving a guaranteed shot at a seat in F1.
As reported by PlanetF1, Russell described his dilemma:
By going with Mercedes, Russell took a massive gamble as he would certainly lose out on the BMW seat while the deal with Mercedes was not yet concrete.
He added:
Had Mercedes decided not to go with George Russell, he would have essentially lost his shot at a successful career in the top tier of motorsport. The 23-year-old, however, made his debut in F1 with Williams in 2019. After an impressive three years, is now moving on to join the eight-time championship winners in 2022.
“Williams had all of the power” - George Russell describes his rigid contract with the team
George Russell recently revealed on the Motor Sport Magazine podcast that, despite what Mercedes wanted from him, his contract with Williams until the end of 2021 was absolutely “watertight.”
George Russell revealed:
Since there was only one seat left in F1 in 2019 when the Briton came in, Williams had the upper hand. The team was able to monetize on the opportunity to form a deal that worked strongly in their favor, with severe lack of flexibility.
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