MAUGER
Britain’s next F1 star steps up as Perez finally gets what he deserves
It’s been clear for some time that George Russell would thrive at the front of Formula 1, but for the Briton to outrace Valtteri Bottas on his Mercedes debut, with such little time to prepare, was remarkable.
Aside from his time in Formula Renault and Formula 3 (during which he still showed flashes of pace and scored race wins), Russell was a champion in every series he contested on his way up, from BRDC F4 to F2 via GP3. When he won the 2014 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award – against Alex Albon, among others – he showed remarkable maturity, as well as speed, for someone who was then only 16.
Last weekend he again demonstrated both a cool head and controlled aggression, while also finding time to thank both Mercedes and Williams for giving him the opportunity to drive the W11.
Russell was the moral victor of the Sakhir Grand Prix (see page 18), but it’s great that Sergio Perez has become an F1 winner. Whereas it now seems almost certain that Russell will be a Mercedes driver at some point soon (how soon, Toto?!), Perez is still without a 2021 seat.
The Mexican has been one of the F1 midfield’s best performers for several years now and, if the race in Bahrain really is his penultimate F1 start, nobody can take away the fact that he is the 110th driver to win a world championship event. A more sensible storyline, however, would surely be that Red Bull puts him alongside Max Verstappen…
Kevin Turner Chief Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com
NEXT WEEK 17-24 DECEMBER Christmas double issue The Abu Dhabi GP report,
our Top 50 drivers and
much, much more
COVER IMAGES Motorsport Images/Dunbar, Mauger
PIT & PADDOCK 6 Russell’s claim to a Merc F1 seat 8 End of an era for BMW 10 Tandy switches to Corvette 13 Abu Dhabi GP preview 15 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 16 Opinion: Lewis Duncan 17 Feedback: your letters
RACE CENTRE 18 Sakhir GP report and analysis 34 Evans denied as Ogier takes WRC title 52 World of Sport: Formula 2; Super Formula; Formula Regional European
INSIGHT 40 The rise of a future Le Mans star 44 MotoGP review: Mir makes his mark
CLUB AUTOSPORT 64 Circuits await government loan details 66 Equipe Classic to Europe – and Wiltshire 68 Bird wins Circuit Rally opener 69 Opinion: Marcus Pye 71 National report: Donington Park 72 British GT review: Lambo duo’s success 76 British F3 review: an American invasion
FINISHING STRAIGHT 78 What’s on this week 80 From the archive: 1965 Dutch GP 82 Autosport 70: Villeneuve tops Awards
SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 54 Special deals for Autosport
VISIT AUTOSPORT.COM For other ways to read Britain’s best motorsport weekly
HAVE YOUR SAY, GET IN TOUCH
Autosport editorial Autosport Media UK Ltd
1 Eton Street Richmond
TW9 1AG
@ E-mail autosport@ autosport.com
Visit our website
autosport.com Twitter twitter.com/
autosport
Facebook facebook.com/
autosport
Instagram instagram.com/
autosport
YouTube youtube.com/ AUTOSPORTdotcom
10 DECEMBER 2020 AUTOSPORT.COM 5
