12 months ago Russell secured a junior driver’s dream opportunity by joining reigning F1 champions Mercede🌄s in its junior driver programme.

With support from Mercedes, Russell stormed to the GP3 Series title beati🤪ng Renault-backed Jack Aitken and graduates into Formula 2 with his title rival becom🔴ing his team-mate at ART Grand Prix.

As reward for his GP3 Series title success Russell enjoyed a pair of FP1 outings for Force India a𒀰t the end of the 2017 F1 campaign while also completing a number of in-sea𝔉son tests for Mercedes.

If Russell can back up his GP3 Series crown with a rookie triumph in F2, it would surely make the 19-year-olꦜd irresistible for an F1 drive in 2019 but with the likes of Esteban Ocon and ⭕Pascal Wehrlein ahead of him, the British driver’s F1 chances remain in the hands of the Mercedes bosses.

“I cannot wait to take part in the first r🌄ace and fight against some of tꦑhe best drivers and teams at the pinnacle of junior motorsport in Formula 2.” Russell said.

“With the introduction of a new Formulꦇa 2 car, it will be challenging for all the teams to optimise the set-up from the start of the season, but I have every confidence in ART Grand Prix to get there and ꦛto be competitive as quickly as possible.”