It might not have been enough for a first Formula 1 win, but George Russell is happy with the podium in Hungary – Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff praises
George Russell believes the Hungarian Grand Prix would have suited his strategy had the threat of rain come to the start of the Formula One race as predicted.
The Mercedes driver, who started from his first Formula One pole position, opted to start the race in Hungary on the soft tyres, while the Ferraris directly behind him chose the medium tyres.
With a heavy downpour forecast for the start of the race, Russell says he was “rubbing his hands” at being able to take advantage of the soft tyres, which are better in slippery conditions.
Russell admits Verstappen “just too quick for us “
But as the rain weakened and eventually stayed away, he was kept at bay by the Ferraris and was forced to pit earlier, leaving him on older medium tyres later in the race and without a chance against teammate Lewis Hamilton.
“It was clear from the start that it was going to be a difficult afternoon because there was rain in the air the whole time. Normally when you’re on pole and it’s drizzling you’re not pleased, but because I was on the soft tyres I was rubbing my hands together,” said Russell, who ended up third. “
“I had a really good start and the first four laps were really good too, which allowed me to extend the lead over Carlos [Sainz] to three seconds. “
Russell: Hamilton “had the much better pace at the end “
“Unfortunately it stopped raining then, so the medium tyres got better. But we still had a good first stint. We then pitted early both times to cover Max [Verstappen] and the Ferraris, but in the end Max was too quick for us today.”
“That put us in a very tricky position in the last stint on the medium tyres. I was struggling a bit already and my engineer said there were 25 laps to go and it started to rain and the temperatures dropped,” said Russell.
After being overtaken by Verstappen at the second pit stops, Russell was also forced to relinquish second position to Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was on the soft tyres for the final stint.
“Lewis did a fantastic job and had much better pace at the end. He also had a very strong middle stint,” said Russell. “I think as a team we can be very proud. We both did everything right for ourselves and gave ourselves the best chance as a team to fight for the win. Unfortunately things didn’t go our way today, but as a team we did everything right. “
Mercedes team boss Wolff: Russell is a champion
It wasn’t quite enough for him to win his first Formula 1 race, but Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has words of praise for Russell: “George is a champion to come, and he was a champion in all the junior categories and in Formula 3 and Formula 2 as a rookie. And we would never have put him in a Mercedes if we didn’t believe he could be a future world champion.”
Thanks to his fifth podium finish of the season, Russell has moved up to fourth in the drivers’ standings, two points ahead of Carlos Sainz. However, the gap to world championship leader Verstappen is now already 100 points.
