Emotional George Russell savours first ever F1 Grand Prix win after beating Lewis Hamilton at Brazilian Grand Prix

The Mercedes man was in control of the Brazilian Grand Prix throughout after Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton collided in the early stages.

But he had to show his nerves to fight off his team-mate over the last 10 laps around the Interlagos circuit after another safety car restart bunched up the field.

"I was pretty impressed how quickly I started crying," Russell said. "It was literally by the time I got to Turn Two tears were flooding.

"It's just been such an emotional roller coaster and journey for all of us.

"I knew how quick Lewis was, and when that safety car came out, I thought, 'God this is going to be very, very tricky now'," Russell said.

"The pressure Lewis put me under was immense. There was a sort of a moment in the race where I was looking a lot at my mirrors, seeing Lewis there.

"But I sort of realised I just need to look forward now. And the only way I'm going to win this race, is by looking ahead, driving as fast as I can, making no mistakes.

"My engineer was on the radio, giving me the gaps, probably four times a lap. And it was always between 1.1 seconds and 1.3, 1.1, 1.4, 1.1. I just wanted that little extra half a second buffer. It was only when I came into sector three on the last lap that I knew we'd got it."

It left Russell reflecting on an emotional journey which has seen him rise all the way up motorsport ladder to reach the very pinnacle of the sport.

"It was incredibly emotional," Russell said. "It has been such a journey my whole family have been on since the beginning.

"Then since getting into Formula 1, through Williams, the struggles, the highs, the lows there.

"This is a victory to be taken and I am so happy to cross that line and I am so proud of the whole time and the work we have done this season."

Russell began karting in 2006 and has so far racked up nine podium places and 284 points in Formula One.

The victory caps a brilliant debut campaign with Mercedes for the 24-year-old, who leads seven-time world champion Hamilton by 23 points going into next weekend's season finale.