Russell enjoyed great success during his years in karting, claiming numerous titles in the British ranks before graduating into Europe. In 2011, he became CIK-FIA European Champion and defended that title again in 2012, before finishing 19th in the 2013 KF1 CIK-FIA World Championship.
The next year marked Russell's single-seater debut as he contested both the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps and BRDC British Formula 4 Championship. Despite missing a round of Formula Renault due to illness, the Briton still managed a fourth-place finish in the standings, though greater success was achieved in the UK as he charged to the BRDC F4 title with Lanan Racing, winning five times on his way to claiming his first championship in car racing.
Progression into the European Formula 3 Championship with Carlin followed for 2015, as Russell made a great start to the series by winning the opening round at Silverstone. His impressive year continued, and while he was unable to add to his sole victory, a solid sixth place in the championship was earned.
Switching to Hitech GP but remaining in European F3 for 2016, Russell continued to make improvements, winning twice and claiming 10 podium finishes as he took third spot in the standings.
2017 would prove to be a real breakthrough year for the Briton, who successfully won the GP3 Series title at the first attempt with ART GP, taking four wins en route to beating fellow rookie teammate Jack Aitken, as well as being named test driver for the Mercedes and Force India Formula 1 teams, making his first Friday practice outing bow in Brazil with the latter.
Russell continued his success after graduating to F2, as he enjoyed another title triumph with ART in what was his most impressive season yet. Despite facing a plethora of reliabilty issues affecting F2's new-for-2018 car, Russell recovered to win the championship in emphatic style, fending off the challenge from Lando Norris and Alexander Albon and taking seven victories along the way.
The 21-year-old enjoyed an impressive debut F1 campaign with Williams despite a lack of competitive machinery. Russell made the most of the car he had at his disposal and turned in a number of impressive displays to get the most of the challenging FW42 package, with notable performances coming in qualifying towards the back end of the season.
While Russell was the only driver who failed to score a point in 2019 and trailed the returning Robert Kubica in the final championship table, he more often than not out-performed his more experienced teammate across a grand prix weekend. It was on Saturdays in particular where he shined against Kubica, sealing a remarkable 21-0 qualifying head-to-head record against the Pole.
