- Hey, GQ, I'm George Russell,
and today we are going undercover on the internet.
It's Absolutely Me.
[slow beats music]
Let's check Twitter.
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George Russell, what are you looking in there?
I don't know, to be honest [George laughs]
Probably try to look good for the cameras maybe.
Well, the tires this year, they're just ultimately bigger
where we actually can't see as much
when we're looking through the corner.
So, that's gonna be interesting
while we're racing wheel to wheel.
So checking them out, I guess.
Next.
Why is George Russell hailed as Mr. Saturday in F1?
Well, I'm not too sure where they came from.
I think it was one of the commentators
after a mega qualifying said, "Mr. Saturday,"
and then it's just stuck with me ever since.
So we need to try and transfer that
into a bit more "Mr. Sunday".
Does George have some kind of contract stipulation
that says he must always wear a turtleneck?
Don't think I've seen him in anything else since the move.
Well, today is a day I'm not wearing a turtleneck.
It's been a cold winter in the UK.
It's interesting in how much such a young person like George
is joining a big team as Mercedes.
A lot of expectations,
a lot of people will be looking on his driving.
How is he handling such expectation?
I think I'm pretty relaxed about it.
When you're in the race car and you've got your helmet on,
you don't know if you're in a Mercedes
or a Williams or a Ferrari,
your sole focus is to drive as fast as possible.
It doesn't matter if you're at the front or the back.
So for me, this is just another season.
Fingers crossed we will [mumbles] grid
than I have been the last few years.
The only pressure I've got is from myself
and that's been the same all of my career.
George Russell, besides Mercedes,
what's your favorite livery this year and why?
Ferrari looks pretty cool.
Probably shouldn't say that
as they'll probably be one of our rivals.
But I do think the Ferrari looks cool.
I do like the Williams as well,
but bit more futuristic with blue.
Mercedes is number one for me.
Instagram.
Will we get a George Russell focused episode
on this season of Drive to Survive?
Give the people what they want.
Check your flag emoji.
I think we will.
I think we'll get something.
I won't give too much away.
Obviously, it's coming out very soon.
Yeah, I think we will.
I think we will.
Who's stocks fancier toilet paper though?
Merc or Williams?
I bet Williams go one ply up from Mercedes.
[George laughing]
When I joined Mercedes,
it wasn't my first comparison I was looking for.
I'd say in that race, I think they're pretty even.
Is this what F1 drivers actually look like in the car?
Laughing face emoji.
To be honest, it's probably worse
in the car than that, unfortunately.
[George laughing]
I've had a couple of times when I've been in the simulator
and there's been a camera directly on my face,
and sometimes my tongue would just randomly come out
when I'm focused through the corners.
I have no idea I was doing it.
I don't think it's a good look.
George mate, can you stop crashing into me
in every F1 Career mode race I play?
I'm trying to challenge for the title.
You're not making it easy.
317 likes on that comment, good effort Alex.
Just wanna cause some carnage clearly.
I had a moment I was racing on the F1 game
and George Russell within the game
actually crashed into me as well.
So it must be something about
George Russell and the game is just having everyone over.
Right into Wikipedia.
At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Russell
crashed out from 10th place while following a safety car,
an incident he described as the
"biggest mistake of his career".
I think I learned a huge amount from that era.
One, that an F1 car can catch you out
at any moment and you need to be on it every single second.
But two, dealing with disappointments.
And I think in any career
you're always gonna have setbacks.
You're always gonna have disappointments.
And if you never learn how to deal with these
you'll never have the experience to get over this.
You'll never be able to progress
and it'll always hold you back.
So that was an important moment for me
cuz I was, you know, hit rock bottom
but came back to the next event stronger than ever.
If you wanna win championship
and if you wanna be successful,
you need to learn how to get over these errors.
Posted.
Now onto Quora.
What is [Russell stammers] Quora?
It's Quora?
I heard F1 drivers can lift up to 40 kg
only with their neck.
Is that true?
If so, how does their neck not look like,
for example, a rock's neck?
Well, [Russell laughs] it's not always
about size as they say.
I think in my fitness test was 53 kilos,
I think, on the neck.
So yeah, it's pretty, pretty crazy.
I've got quite a big head as well.
So the perception of my neck doesn't look that big
because my head is just so big.
Whereas some other drivers have quite a small head
and their neck looks absolutely massive.
So, I think that's a bit of a perception.
You're locked into your seat in, into position
but your head and your neck is just exposed.
So when you drive around a corner at 200 miles an hour,
there's five or six Gs of force on your head
and the weight of your head plus the weight of the helmet,
you've got about probably eight kilos there
times that by five and that's where you're
experiencing every high speed corner,
every breaking zone.
So yeah, it is true.
We can lift more than 40 kg.
How do F1 drivers stay hydrated during the race?
It's such a high intensity sport.
Surely they must get thirsty.
We do get thirsty.
We actually have a little drinks bag.
We put in the car
but often the engineers don't want us to use it
because that's additional weight
that is slowing the car down,
but is very circuit and related to the
country and the climate.
If we go to a track like Singapore
where the humidity and the heat is incredibly high,
we would always have the drinks bag, you know, full.
But if it's a cold day at Silverstone
in the middle of July, which is often the case
we would probably put a bit less in there.
The bag has like a drink's tube like a straw
that comes through from the seat,
almost through your suit into the helmet
and then sticks into your mouth.
Replied.
All right, let's see some YouTube comments.
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So can someone explain what "cancel the magic"
and all the other words means?
Is like some kind of secret language teams use
so other teams can't study strategies?
I suppose they're talking about engine mapping
and similar things right?
Magic, it's like a little button
we have on the steering wheel,
and you can program that button to do whatever you want.
Every team has it.
Some teams call it blue button, white button, whatever.
The famous one was with Lewis in Baku
when his magic was set to have the brake balance forward
and he didn't cancel the magic and locked up and went off.
I've got the magic set for something and different.
Won't say what, but yeah.
It sounds, [Russel laughs] it sounds
a bit strategic for sure.
Also what does "keep the delta positive" mean?
Does it mean like "stay in front"
so a difference in time between you
and the car behind you is positive?
Under a safety car or virtual safety car,
we have a lap time we have to achieve.
The speed is reduced and we have like an average speed
we have to follow.
So we have this delta lap time on our steering wheel to say
if you are faster than the lap time
therefore you'll be negative or you are positive.
Therefore you are slower.
So if you are too quick, you'll get penalized for it.
Hence whether say, keep the positive.
Onto Reddit.
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I've only been watching since mid 2020,
so what exactly does the term shakedown mean?
I get they are driving a few laps
but who's it for and what are they looking at?
Just promo stuff or is it more technical than that?
Previously, it was called a filming day
and it was just for promotional stuff.
But teams ended up using it for
more technical side just to sign the car off,
so, putting laps on the car.
They do things on the Dyna, back at the factory,
but nothing is like driving the car
for real on a race track.
So, we only get two of these days
per year and we've gotta make the most of it.
TikTok.
If you could win only three Gran Prix,
which ones would they be?
Gotta be Silverstone home race, for sure.
Love the crowd.
Love the circuit.
Obviously my home event.
So, Silverstone without a doubt.
I would say Monaco that is you know,
a clear favorite for all the drivers.
And then I'd probably say Monza.
I think the podium there's just incredible
Italian Grand Prix.
Crazy fans, who support or mainly support Ferrari,
but just a spectacular podium
and would be an incredible experience.
So there are my three.
All right, that's it.
I'm signing off.
Cheers.
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