The next George Russell?

By grabbing the lead of the Formula 2 championship, Mercedes junior driver Fred Vesti has put himself on F1’s radar.

George Russell’s path to Mercedes is a fairytale that almost every F1 driver must dream of.

After being signed by Mercedes as a junior driver, Russell delivered championship wins in GP3 and Formula 2 (F2) - feats that led to him entering F1 with Williams.

Russell’s three seasons with Williams were a helpful proving ground to hone his skills before he joined Mercedes in 2022. When he made that step up, Russell immediately matched the performances of his seven-time F1 champion teammate, Lewis Hamilton.

In short, Mercedes gave Russell an ideal career path to the top of F1. They supported him in the junior series, gave him a stint to develop with a slower F1 team, and then - being ready to fight at the front - they promoted him to Mercedes.

Right now, another Mercedes junior, Frederik Vesti, is starting to find his feet in the junior formula, and you have to wonder if he may soon follow a similar path to Russell.

Vesti is racing in F2 this year and after six rounds he’s catapulted himself into the championship lead.

When he won his third race of the year in Spain earlier this month, F2 commentator Alex Jacques delivered high praise.

“It was a masterclass from Frederik Vesti, who is driving like he’s never driven before,” Jacques said.

Vesti’s success in F2 this season is even more impressive given the field is considered to be one of the better crop of junior drivers in recent history.

By leading the championship, Vesti is now ahead of last year’s F2 runner-up Théo Pourchaire, as well as the six junior drivers backed by Red Bull.

Vesti recently told the official F2 website that he was confident in his team and himself.

“I think together, we have as a team gotten pointed into the direction we need to go.”

Going back to the Russell comparison, it would be fair to note that Vesti’s success in F2 is not quite as clinical.

Russell won the F2 title in his rookie season - and he beat Lando Norris, Alex Albon and Nyck de Vries to do it. Vesti is now in his second F2 season.

Still, Vesti’s resurgence this year could very well be the beginning of his success story.

He has been the dominant force in F2 and continuing that form for the whole season would be the strongest statement he could make that he deserves a shot in F1.

And it’s worth noting that Vesti has previously proven himself against F1-worthy talent. While racing in F3 back in 2020, he was fighting for the title with current F1 drivers Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri.

So does Vesti have a path into F1?

Firstly, Mick Schumacher is probably ahead of him in the Mercedes hierarchy.

Schumacher, who won the 2020 F2 championship, has two seasons of F1 experience with Haas and joined Mercedes this year as their official reserve driver.

If Mercedes did have a chance to place one driver somewhere for 2024, it would be fascinating to see whether they gave that opportunity to Vesti or Schumacher.

Still, there doesn’t appear to be much space free on the 2024 F1 grid anyway.

Being placed at Williams greatly helped George Russell.

Today, the team is still a Mercedes power unit customer and the boss is former Mercedes chief strategist, James Vowles.

But, Williams has Alex Albon on a multi-year contract and they just promoted their own junior driver, Logan Sargeant, to a race seat. Sacking him after just one season would seem a bit reckless.

The options aren’t much better elsewhere.

Other Mercedes customer teams Aston Martin and McLaren are off the table as their driver line-ups are practically locked in for 2024.

In my view, this could be a headache for Mercedes.

Having a junior driver like Vesti or Schumacher developing in F1 now could help them dearly with succession planning in coming years.

With Lewis Hamilton now aged 38, retirement must be on the horizon.

Getting a junior driver up-to-speed in F1 now - just like Russell did at Williams - could breed a suitable replacement for Hamilton when he finally calls time on his F1 career.