Russell reacts to Verstappen's 'potential World Champion' comments

George Russell has given his reaction to Max Verstappen calling him a "potential World Champion".

Verstappen recently spoke of how impressed he was by Russell during their early days of racing each other in karting, leading the Dutchman to suggest that Russell has the capability to claim a title in Formula 1.

"George is part of the generation with Lando [Norris] and Charles [Leclerc] and me that grew up together," Verstappen told the Daily Mail.

"I raced against George a bit in karting, though he's a year younger. You could see straight away he was good.

"It came naturally to him – he didn't need a lot of laps to be quick.

"He has the potential to be a World Champion."

Russell: A handful of drivers are World Champion worthy

Russell admits that he is flattered by the comments, but also feels that several drivers on the grid could be classed as possible World Champions of the future.

"Obviously it's always nice to hear positive things being spoken about you," Russell told Square Mile.

"But there's probably a handful of drivers on the grid right now who are all World Champion worthy, some of which are already World Champions, some of which haven't won World Championships yet and would definitely win a World Championship if they were in the right car at the right time."

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How Russell can become a World Champion

In terms of how he can achieve his goal of winning a World Championship, Russell knows what he has to do.

"As to what I can do to give myself the best chance, it's just about continuing to work and keep on pushing, never giving up and ultimately making sure that I'm ready to fight when you've got that machine beneath you that's capable of winning," the Mercedes driver said.

"I hope that comes sooner than later, but I believe I've got a good 15 years left in me and I've got to keep on working on my fitness, keep on working on my race craft, keep on working on how I work with my team to make sure that if my opportunity is tomorrow, I'm ready tomorrow.

"If my opportunity is in three, four, five, or even 10 years, so be it."

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