The F1 talent guru scouting, recruiting, and nurturing Mercedes young drivers

Formula One runs on evolution. Second only to “who’s winning” (and it’s a close one) is the need to know what’s next. What’s the next design upgrade, the next controversy, the next regulation change, the next rule-bending innovation? One question trumps them all: Who is next? In our Next Generation series, we’ll meet some of the most exciting up-and-coming talents on the road to F1 and the folks helping them get there.

In January 2016, one month shy of his 18th birthday, George Russell received his first professional racing contract offer. An impressive junior career had caught the attention of a major German manufacturer who wanted to sign him.

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It came from BMW.

Russell was offered a seat in DTM, Germany’s premier touring car series that is widely regarded to be the best in Europe. It would take him off the single-seater pathway that typically leads to F1, but he’d no longer need to secure sponsorship required up to that point to keep him racing. He’d be a fully-fledged professional.

Then he received a call from Gwen Lagrue, a driver manager he’d first met when he was 12 years old. “I’m moving to Mercedes,” Lagrue told Russell. “And I want you to be my first signing.”

It was Lagrue’s first day at Mercedes, joining as the team’s driver development advisor. He knew Russell had the BMW contract ready to sign and that he had to act fast. The next day, he organized a meeting between Russell and Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff.

“What we were telling him was, don’t sign this contract with BMW, where actually they were offering a salary and everything, and do Formula 3,” Lagrue told The Athletic.

Mercedes would support Russell as a member of its young driver program, with no assurance it would lead to an F1 opportunity.

“‘But what are you offering me, guaranteeing me?’,” Lagrue remembers Russell asking. The answer: “‘Uh, nothing.’”

Russell took the plunge and turned down the BMW contract, preferring to stay on the path toward F1.

It was a sliding doors moment that ultimately led Russell not only to F1, but to a Mercedes race seat that made him a grand prix winner. Without Lagrue, it may never have happened.

“He and his family were brave enough to not choose to go the professional way in that time with BMW,” said Lagrue. “They trusted us enough to join Mercedes.”

Russell is not the only driver to have benefitted from the Frenchman’s influence. At Mercedes, Lagrue plays an integral role with the members of its training academy, finding the next generation of potential F1 stars.

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In a sport where identifying and developing young talent is particularly important and difficult, Lagrue is “one of the unknown heroes here in the paddock,” said Wolff. “He has a big talent and knowhow about assessing young drivers.”

Golden generation

Like many who work in motorsports, Lagrue once harbored dreams of becoming a driver. His father took him to the French Grand Prix at Dijon in 1979, where they witnessed a classic wheel-banging fight between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux. Lagrue spent nine years racing go-karts and a further four in rally before the penny dropped.

“It took me 13 years to realize I would never make anything staying behind the steering wheel!” he said. “I was not talented enough to make it through.”

Lagrue moved into management, working with French driver Guillaume Moreau, who raced in the 2005 F3 Euro Series against names including Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Lucas di Grassi and Adrian Sutil. Through this series, Lagrue would meet Wolff, Fred Vasseur — now Ferrari team principal — and Eric Boullier, all of whom were also looking after young drivers.

Boullier was appointed team principal of Renault’s F1 team in 2010, later to be rebranded as Lotus (now Alpine), and approached Lagrue to look after its young driver program, as well as owning a management company together. Lagrue told Boullier they had to “go to the base” if they wanted to find the next stars: go-karts.

Lagrue said he was “lucky” to be involved in the go-kart scene at a time when so many talented drivers were coming through. Besides meeting Russell, Lagrue got to know and watch Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon competing for titles across Europe.

“It’s actually quite incredible to see this generation,” said Lagrue. “I have seen them all the way along from go-karts to Formula One.”

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Ocon, now an Alpine F1 driver, joined Lagrue and Boullier’s management company, which helped fund his junior career beyond karting. But when Lotus hit financial trouble and started to wind down, ultimately being sold back to Renault, Lagrue worked to secure Ocon’s future. After beating Verstappen to the European F3 title in 2014, Ocon joined Mercedes’ program, keeping his junior career going. They’d reunite when Lagrue moved to Mercedes the following year.

“Gwen is one of these people that if I didn’t meet, I would not be here (in F1) today,” said Ocon. “He’s someone who is very important in my life and my career.”

Spotting the next superstar

Scouting the next generation of talent is vital in any sport, but F1 delivers a particular challenge. There are only 20 seats, and with many drivers, you won’t see until they actually get one just how good they actually are. Given the sheer time and incredible cost involved in developing drivers, spotting encouraging signs early on is of enormous benefit to teams – particularly as they bid to beat their rivals to the next young hotshot.

To make it happen, Lagrue attends every single F2 and F3 race, as well as other junior events right down to the biggest go-kart championships each year. He has a vast network of contacts across those series, including talent scouts and junior team bosses, keeping him in the loop on which drivers are standing out. But he makes the final call before going to Wolff to suggest a young driver.

The greatest challenge he faces is spotting the qualities that really make a driver stand out, beyond pure results. “Is he the next superstar, or is he the next very good Formula 1 driver?” Lagrue said. “Sometimes the margin between exceptional and super good is very, very thin.”

Lagrue relies on a “more complete picture” of a young driver, especially their character. “I meet them when they are 12 or 13 years old, and you can see immediately they are different,” he said. “They are way more mature than others. They have way more confidence in themselves than others.”

He also pays close attention to their approach behind the wheel. Go-karts may be far less complex than a single-seater racing car, yet they provide the formative skills that are crucial for the next step up the ladder.

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“It’s the way they are reading the race, the way they are defending, the way they are preparing a move and overtakes,” said Lagrue. “How do they react when the rain comes? How consistent are their lap times?” Above all, he wants to see drivers that are “super committed and super determined” in what they do.

Those qualities drew Lagrue to Russell when he was in go-karting. Prior to both joining Mercedes, Lagrue arranged a last-minute deal for Russell to appear in a Formula Renault Eurocup race in 2014 as a replacement driver for Tech 1 Racing. Despite limited experience in the series, Russell took pole position and won on debut.

Continued support

Mercedes has traditionally been very selective with young drivers, offering longstanding support to a few instead of a large number of short-term deals seen elsewhere in F1. It currently has seven members on its junior team, including F2 championship leader Frederik Vesti, Italian prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and go-kart star Alex Powell.

“It’s great to know that he’s out there with his team, scouting on a national karting level who is coming up,” said Wolff. “You can see his success, because these kids have made it all the way into Formula 1.”

Even when they do make it, Lagrue remains an important source of support and guidance. He is still part of Ocon’s management team despite the driver’s move to Alpine in 2020. They talk on a weekly basis about his progress and performance.

“When I’m not doing the things right, he’s the first one to tell me,” Ocon said.

Lagrue — who admitted he is “so bad at dealing with not winning” — is happy to play bad cop when needed. “We are in an environment where everyone is a fan of Formula 1 drivers,” he said. “It’s difficult for a lot of people to tell them the truth, and be very honest and straightforward with them. Only a few people can do that.

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“Because I’ve known them since they are 12 years old, they cannot lie to me. I can see it immediately. I’m not a fan of them, I’m here to help them. Sometimes it means we need to have some hard discussions.”

It’s a level of honesty that has helped bring out the best in the F1 talents whom Lagrue has guided up the ladder. Russell and Ocon have been two of the standout performers in F1 this year. Both doubt they’d have made it so far without Lagrue’s input.

“Gwen has been incredibly influential for myself, for Esteban, and many other drivers who are on their journey currently and have also had their time,” said Russell.

Not every driver makes it all the way. With just 20 seats in F1, rarely awarded on talent alone, many drivers fall by the wayside, be it due to pressure, politics or outside factors. “The thing I hate is when I have to stop with a driver,” Lagrue said. “It means that I was not able to find the right keys to make him perform. It’s not necessarily his fault, it’s me unable to find the right solutions.

“I know they will not all make it to Formula 1, of course. But it’s my duty to do everything I can to try to make it happen.

“They are performing on-track. I have to perform for them outside of the track.”

The Next Generation series is part of a partnership with Chanel. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Lead image: Mercedes; Design by Eamonn Dalton – The Athletic)

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