Watch: A seemingly drunk George Russell gatecrashes Lando Norris's interview during the F1 launch

Mercedes driver George Russell gatecrashed his good friend and McLaren driver Lando Norris's interview during the F175 launch seemingly drunk. The two drivers along with 18 other of their colleagues and team principals attended the 75th anniversary launch event at the O2 Arena in London to kickstart the 2025 campaign.

The two British drivers were in demand by the media ahead of the event with many asking about their preparations for the upcoming season. Norris, who has been talked about as one of the favorites for 2025, was interrupted by his good friend as they engaged in some banter.

In a video floating on social media, Russell, possibly a little drunk, poked fun at Norris being the bookmaker's favorite to take the driver's title this year. The McLaren driver in turn made hilarious comments about his countryman's fashion sense and said:

"Beautifully dressed tonight. Who dressed you?"

The Mercedes driver replied:

"I dressed myself."

Lamdo Norris took a jab at George Russell's attire and asked:

"Do you wanna put your collar down? It's a bit funky. It's like up and down at the same time."

The 27-year-old replied:

"That's the style, mate. Just don't worry about it."

The McLaren driver was unable to control his smile after that and concluded:

"You can just rock anything. See you in a bit."

It will be an important year for George Russell given that he will take over the team leader role at Mercedes after the departure of Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari.

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George Russell previews the 2025 season for the team

Mercedes driver George Russell stated that it would be a significant year for the German team as they hoped for a more disciplined approach to developing their car in the 2025 season.

Speaking with F1.com at the launch, he said:

“I think it’s going to be a significant change this year, to be honest. I think every year we’ve uncovered a problem, we’ve solved it and it’s created a new one, and we’ve probably been a lot more disciplined with every change that we’ve made.

“We’ve been more thorough than ever in terms of the simulator, just to ensure that we’re not going to fall into a new trap, and so far it’s a reasonable step. Obviously you’ve no idea what everyone else is doing and it’s going to be quite an interesting season with how people deploy the resources between ’25 and ’26.”

Russell came into his own in the second half of the 2024 season where he was the faster driver between him and Hamilton and constantly challenged faster drivers like Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc for race wins and pole positions.