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George recently sat down with Jodi (she also does Mercedes' race week debriefs) for a conversation for Teamviewer talking about achieving success on the race track and in business.

It's about 19 minutes long so I've just uploaded to google drive as the file is too big to post here. I've also include a transcript below the cut.

Jodi: Joining us for TeamViewer Rise, we have Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team driver George Russell, here to share his insights on how to drive long-term success on the racetrack and in business. So, George, it's a pleasure to have you here today.

George: Thank you so much.

Jodi: You're no stranger to success. We've seen you come through GP3, F2, into F1, winning races, podiums and pole positions. But we do realise it's, it's more than just raw talent alone to get to that level of success. So are there any daily disciplines or habits for life that you've put into practice to get to that stage?

George: Absolutely. I mean, it's never raw talent alone. And I think that will only ever take you so far. And for me personally, learning as the years go by what I need from myself to compete at the highest level of Formula One. What I need in terms of my routine to ensure that my health and my fitness is also at the highest level. So, you know, prioritizing things such as my sleep, doing the basics right, making sure that I'm training properly when I travel around the world and jet lag is a factor ensuring I've done the right preparation before the event so that I'm not hit with the jet lag during race day. So these are things that I've just sort of learned over time and sort of pinpointing exactly what is required for myself.

Jodi: And you're doing all of that whilst being on this global platform as well, being seen all around the world. If we refer to IT leaders, they often have to adapt in split seconds to outages, maybe breaches, unexpected challenges. So you yourself, how do you deal with those pressurised moments where you have to adapt in an instant? And have you learnt from that to be able to cope in the future when it happens again?

George: I think in Formula One, at least the way I go about a race is trying to be as adaptable as possible. You go in with a set plan, but you've always got to be ready for the plan to be thrown off course, a curveball thrown in, and I think over time you gain these experiences and I like to call it like my toolbox of experience. So I'll learn from a race, I'll put that in my toolbox of experience, I don't know when I'll need to use it again it might be next race it may be in a year's time but I'm ready to utilize that and adapt to the circumstance I find myself in to get the best result possible

Jodi: and this may be in your toolbox as well then resilience I suppose it becomes a massive part of being an F1 driver. So how do you manage that resilience? What does it look like to you to be able to bounce back maybe after you've had some disappointing outcomes?

George: I think formula one is a very unique sport because every year you've only got about four maximum five drivers who actually get to achieve a race win in a season and per season you may only have two drivers fighting for a championship if you're lucky you have two drivers fighting for a championship so there's no other sport in the world where the top 20 of that given sport achieve so few victories in a given season. So for all of us you have to be so resilient you have to keep on believing you know of course I've won Formula One races but I'm here to fight for a Formula One World Championship and I have to keep on believing I have to keep on putting that hard work in because I don't know when my opportunity is going to come. It may be next year, maybe in three years time it may be in five years time but I need to ensure that I'm at 100% of my peak performance for whenever that moment may come.

Jodi: I want to touch upon other development now, developing those around you. So when we look at our own success, we're often engaged on the people that we have around us to be able to reach our own goals. So looking back 10 years now, when you joined the Mercedes junior family, what was a solid mentoring moment or a teaching that has stayed with you and why has that stayed with you until now?

George: Well I think even earlier than that your sort of core values are ingrained in you from your parents so I'm very lucky with how my parents raised me. My father was extremely hard on me and as a teenager you know you didn't really love that or probably didn't appreciate it at the time and it was only when I was maybe 17 or 18 years old you kind of realize the tough love was what was required to get me to the level I'm at today and again it's not saying that's the right approach or is not the right approach but without sort of his guidance I definitely wouldn't be where I am today and then that sort of evolved when I joined Mercedes as a junior driver, Toto coming on board, a sort of senior figure as our sort of mentor. I remember something he said to me and it was actually just quite simple, he just said you focus on winning on track and I'll worry about the rest and it was just so simple and it was so clear. I'm somebody who would always like to focus on every single aspect and worrying about what's next, how am I going to get my drive in from Formula 3 to Formula 2, how am I going to get my Formula 1 drive from Formula 2 to Formula 1 and constantly worrying about the next step as opposed to worrying about the here and now, and that's what Toto said. He just said you focus on what you need to focus on and leave the rest of me.

Jodi: Just giving you that space to perform.

George: Absolutely. And I think just recognising my job, if you do what you're contracted to do at your very highest level and you perform, the rest will kind of sort itself out. So I think you should always, before taking on more burdens, is trying to just focus on what you're there to do in the first place.

Jodi: Nice. And I want to put you in what I would call your office environment now, having the garage and the team around you. We often see over a race weekend, you're surrounded by engineers, and we can sometimes think that they'll have this vast amount of experience of dealing with the pressures of these high-performance environments. But I guess no one's as well-equipped as you to deal with those inevitable nerves that come through on a race weekend. So how do you go about leading an entire team and ensuring that they get the most out of their weekend and in return you get the best product from them?

George: I think it goes down to trust. You have to trust and empower those around you. And when you look at a race team between the chief engineer, your race engineer, the mechanics, the drivers, the strategists, everyone in their given role is the best at what they do within the organization. So everybody may want to have an input on the strategy, but the strategist is the one who is best placed to make the decision regarding the strategy. And I think to bring the A game out of everybody, you need to empower them. You need to trust them. You, of course, need to debate certain things. But ultimately, having the confidence to leave that final decision down to the person who's employed to do that role, I think is when you get the best outcome. And I think it goes down also to team spirit as well and this teamwork. If certain figures within the team are walking into the office with confidence and they're happy and they're keeping morale high, that sort of transcends through the whole team. And when you're in a 24-race season going from country to country, that's also so important.

Jodi: Yeah, it's longer than ever, well, as of last year as well, to keep that energy going. Something I want to touch upon now is the success that we've seen from yourself and Kimi coming from that junior program. So it's shown how vital it is to give space to new rookies coming through and to invest. You've taken almost a guidance role yourself now with Kimi this year. So what words of advice would you give to any of the leaders that may have younger, more inexperienced team members to be able to get the most out of them and help them thrive? George: Well, I think something that I have learned over the last few years is not being afraid to fail. I think when I was younger and, as I said, my father was my main mentor and he was my engineer and my mechanic and, you know, taking me around the continent. I never wanted to make any mistakes to let him down and I would almost prefer operating 5% below my limit and not make a mistake rather than pushing myself with the chance of making a mistake. and it was only when I got a bit older and a bit more confident I felt that approach was totally wrong because I didn't feel that I had fulfilled my potential and to fulfill my potential you had to go beyond your limits and make those mistakes and bounce back from them and I think that's probably my biggest advice to youngsters coming through in any industry or sport is you know don't be afraid to make those mistakes because you have to fail to then be able to move forward.

Jodi: And looking at F1 as a sport now, we know it's data heavy. There's a vast amount of data produced across a race weekend. It's known for its telemetry and performance analytics. How do you strike that balance between trusting in the data, but also relying on your own instincts and experience that you have? Well, you have to use the data to your advantage. And this also comes with experience, learning which parts of the data are most impactful to you as a driver and that you can utilise. As you said, we have thousands of sensors on the car, but realistically, maybe only 5% of that is useful to me. Another 5% is useful to the engine department. Another 5% is useful to the tyre department, etc, etc. So first you're recognising which part of the data is important to me and how I'm going to utilise that into my own driving. And then knowing the circumstance you find yourself in when you need to rely on either your instincts or on the data. And sometimes it's very challenging because, for example, your car could be sliding around a corner. But is it sliding because maybe the tyres are too cold or is it because they're too hot? and without the data it's very difficult to distinguish the two because the outcome, which is the car sliding is the same but it can be driven from two totally different reasons, so this is where you need to take the data and then if I know my car is sliding because the tires are too hot, I will adapt my driving style in one direction, if I know the car is sliding because the tires are too cold, I'll adapt in a different direction. So that is where having that data is so important and where in the junior formulas such as Formula 2, when you don't have the data, it's so so challenging for a driver to know what the right approach is to solve a certain issue.

Jodi: Are they very much reliant on then you coming back and saying how it feels? And I suppose even now in F1 you're almost a key sensor in the car itself.

George: Yeah well I think it's your… we talk a lot about correlation, but we're also trying to correlate my feeling to what the engineers see in the data so we as drivers have to really understand the data and be able to read it to say to pinpoint a certain area and say I'm feeling this from the car and you can now see it on the computer screen that's exactly what I'm talking about and this is where you need that trust and teamwork over time that the language I use during a debrief after a session they can translate that into their sort of engineering terms and into the squiggly lines on the computer screen.

Jodi: Brilliant and has there ever been a moment where the data has surprised you where you've actually thought oh I can adapt the way that I approach a racing line, a breaking point or even changes the way that you would approach a race strategy?

George: Yeah, always. I think I wouldn't say necessarily you're surprised by certain data, but you are constantly learning from the data and you're constantly adapting. And I think in a race, as I said before the race, you have a certain strategy, but we are reacting every single minute to the tyre temperatures, the prediction of the tyre wear. Does that mean we can go 20 laps or could we actually do 25 laps if we can achieve 25 laps maybe we only need one pit stop. If we can only get to 20 laps we might need two pit stops in the race, so can i drive in a different manner to help extend the life of the tyres but actually that might mean i have to drive slower but is that faster to only do the one pit stop if that makes sense. So you're constantly adapting your driving with your engineers based on the information they're giving you to maximize that result. And a race is a bit like running a marathon it's like you you have two parts of this this marathon or even three parts depending on how many pit stops you do and how do you get yourself from the start line to the finish line in the quickest time possible and maybe sprinting off the line as you may do at the start of a marathon and burning yourself out is not the quickest way to complete the whole race. And that's what we're always juggling is is what is the best approach Jodi: And when we look at business leaders can often feel buried in the data as i'm sure you can in f1 as well so how do you go about building trust in the insights that the data delivers and creating that alignment with your team i suppose there's a huge amount of communication that goes into play?

George: I think it comes with experience. You know, we're always looking at the data, but you then have to reconfirm that the data is correct. And if the results you're seeing from the screen are not right, then, you know, we need to change some of our modelling. And this is, you know, you're constantly evolving over time. And I think the best engineers are the ones who challenge the data, who challenge everything they see and go in with an open mind because the goalposts are always moving. For example, in our sport, every time on track, it's a different environment. The temperature may be five degrees hotter outside, a cloud may come over and the track cools down, the wind may have shifted slightly, so it totally changes the aerodynamics and when you learn something from the data from the previous day or from the previous session, it may be different in the upcoming session so that's why you're always having to challenge it you're always having to question it and that's when over time these models evolve and they get stronger

Jodi: and let's now talk about the quieter times in the season i know it might not feel like there are any anymore there's a few but not too many because we do we see you as an adrenaline junkie is that fair to say? Not everyone drives over 200 miles an hour week in week out

George: no yeah i guess so i guess you're right

Jodi: so when we do step away for those other vital moments that do play a part in success: when you're back at the factory, in the simulator, in debriefs how do you then stay focused and motivated within those quieter times?

George: Well, I think we all have our goal and remembering daily, you know, why are we doing this? I know my end goal is to become a world champion and there are going to be days that you enjoy more and that you're doing the thing you love the most. There's going to be days that are tougher and you're doing things that you don't enjoy, but they are contributing towards that end goal. So it's almost reminding yourself, you know, I am here today doing this activity because this is going to contribute towards my end goal. No matter how tough it is, how much I may not be enjoying the moment or whatever it may be. But it's those moments below the surface, you know, look at the iceberg analogy, it's those moments below the surface that are going to give you the sort of greatness on top.

Jodi: And before we leave to close off this event now, George, if you could leave our audience with one principle that applies to both racing and business leadership, what would that be and why?

George: One principle. Well, I'd say one thing that I've tried taking on board, firstly, we all look at computer screens or our phones or tablets so much. So I have a little, I call it the 20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes I'm in front of a screen, I take 20 seconds where I look away from the screen to give my eyes and my brain a rest to just reset. and just that 20 seconds just makes such a huge difference and along the same lines… It doesn't matter how busy I am during a given day I would always like to get some fresh air in the evening so at a race weekend I would take a bike and I would do one lap of a track really slow, on my own and sort of just gathering all of my thoughts in the day or if I'm at home I'll just go for a 10 or 15 minute walk and it just it's just a way that my body calms down, I look at things through a different lens, I reset and I go again and I think that's probably the biggest thing I've learned from a high performing athlete that I think translates for everybody in society almost

Jodi: Definitely so yeah thank you so much George we really appreciate those valuable insights that you've given us today. And thank you for joining us at TeamView Rise.

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