George Russell went to Italy during the Formula 1 break to keep an eye on the next generation of motorsport and Toto Wolff’s son.
George Russell visited a karting track in Italy during the Formula 1 break. The Mercedes driver earned his first international spurs at the South Garda Karting facility in Lonato, around 1.5 hours by car from Milan.
Together with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and his wife Susi (head of the women’s junior series F1 Academy), the 28-year-old was a guest in northern Italy to watch the team boss’s son in a kart. After all, Jack Wolff has been busy on four wheels himself for some time now.
On Instagram, Russell commented on his nostalgic short break as follows: “Same track, 23 years later! Very cool to be back on the kart track with Toto and Susie, watching Jack and the next generation of racers.”
Kart racing as a foundation
To this day, karting is regarded as the basic training for a successful future in motorsport. Formula 1 legends such as Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen first made a name for themselves in this world.
From time to time, old video footage of Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris and Russell from their childhood days in karting haunts social media. Russell himself shared a few such photos in his Instagram post.
These days, children and teenagers are not only intensively scouted at international kart races, but are even signed up for one or two junior programs of current Formula 1 teams. The prime example of this development is currently Kimi Antonelli, of all people, who Russell is currently battling with in his own garage.
The Mercedes driver was signed to the racing team’s junior team at the age of twelve and has since been regarded as one of the greatest talents in motorsport. The now 19-year-old celebrated his first Grand Prix victory at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. Two weeks later, the prodigy scored another victory, this time on the Suzuka circuit in Japan.
After three races, the Italian is now ahead of the six-time Grand Prix winner in the world championship standings. And if experts like Martin Brundle are to be believed, the top favorite for the title must be worried about the performance of his younger team-mate. The next duel between Russell and Antonelli will take place at the Miami Grand Prix at the beginning of May.