George Russell has detailed how his parents raised £1.5million to fund his go-karting career - which led to some tough family politics. The driver was subjected to a childhood of tough love as his father especially wanted to see a return on his investment.

Russell was a star before arriving in , winning Formula 2 . His performances eventually got him the Mercedes promotion, where he's become . Years earlier though and Russell was dealing with the pressure to perform.

His father, Steve, worked immensely long days to fund his son's karting career. All in all it cost a seven-figure sum to put the Mercedes star through all those years in the junior ranks. Russell has since repaid his parents every penny they spent.

But that was only after his father put huge demands on him to produce. It led to some frosty car journeys home when Russell had made mistakes, often ending in tears.

The 27-year-old admits he had to deal with plenty of "tough love" with his mum and dad clashing over how best to deal with him. However at such a tender age concedes you don't understand why your parents are being hard on you.

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He told the : "We go racing and he is quite stressed from his job. And if I was making silly mistakes, he’d be dead angry with me. In those eight years, there were happy times, but there are lots of sad memories from my parents fighting because of how hard my father was being on me. My mum was trying to hold it all together.

"It was, 'You’re not winning.' The expectation was to be on pole and win every race, at least always be on the podium. Even times when I did win, it wasn’t sunshine and glory on the way home. It was, 'But you could have done this better, done that better.'

"He has moulded me into the guy I am today. He would always want the glass full. He would see where I could have improved while never seeing the positives. I continue the mentality of looking at where I could have done better, while ensuring I see the positives. Otherwise, it can be a very slippery slope.

‘I can now see it with my brother: his kids are starting go-karting and he is working his a*** off to give them the chance. Life isn’t simple, with the stress of work and the rest. And I will forever be grateful for what my dad did."

Russell is reportedly earning just over £11m per year whilst driving for Mercedes - more than making his father's investment worth it. This is the Brits first year without and he's begun impressively, landing three podiums in the five races.