Second races, second podium: As at the start in Australia, George Russell takes third place in China, and then delights – about the result, but above all about one’s own performance: “It was probably one of my best weekends in Formula 1 if you look at the overall performance”, the Brit shines on Sunday.
“I am really satisfied with the fact that I was able to fully exploit the potential every time on the track,” explains Russell. He also received a big praise from Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff: “George’s performance was a smooth 10 out of 10 – and I rarely give a 10 out of 10 because I think it is still better.”
“The perfect race” has never been seen in Formula 1, “but if you look at the circumstances under which George drove today, it was 10 out of 10”, the Viennese points out: “He got the absolute maximum out of the car, the tire and the strategy – an outstanding performance.”
This leads to the fact that Wolff can no longer get out of the raven for his protégé: “If I have to call three drivers that I think is the best, George definitely belongs to it-maybe even the top 2, and it may be on the way to becoming number one,” the Mercedes team boss exudes.
Despite a strong start of Russell: Norris passes
The only drawback, if you like, is probably the loss of position at the start, Wolff judges at Sky. Although Russell initially started strongly and even fought for the lead with Oscar Piatri, he lost second place in the snail curve opposite the second McLaren from Lando Norris:
“Oscar has defended himself strongly. It is always difficult when the first curve was so fast. I thought I could push past the inside, but he cleverly blocked it down,” reports Russell after the race. There are no allegations of the attack from Wolff: “The central railway is the fastest, we know that. And that he lost it against Noris does not make a racing difference because we didn’t have the PACE.”
That is why the Mercedes team boss is still happy about the result, although he differentiates: “Happy are of course with a win, but it was simply not inside. The McLaren are at the moment.”
After all, Wolff does not see the lead of the competition completely out of reach: “Today it was perhaps two tenths that they had. And in view of the fact that our car did not work on Friday, it was a good step. And two tenths, even three tenths, can be made up,” the Austrian locates an improvement to the previous week: “As it was in Melbourne, it was too much.”
Norris in problems – but Mercedes attack is not enough
In China, however, Russell was even able to hope against the end of the race to get back the place from Norris – because the McLaren pilot had problems with the brake in the final phase. “The team informed me, but I attacked full performance anyway,” Russell told Sky: “Maybe half a round would have been enough to overtake him, but he managed the race cleverly and managed the lead well.”
The British threatened real danger from the pursuers on Sunday: “Charles [Leclerc] I put me under a lot of pressure after the stop for a few laps, and with Lando it was a bit tricky at first. But after that the race went quite straightforward, “Russell experiences a rather lonely Grand Prix most of the time.
But this is also due to the fact that most of the pilots can go through with just one stop, and there was little movement in the field: “I had the feeling that a single stop would be feasible early in the race – and ultimately it turned out to be a little easier than to be expected,” said Russell, who added: “It was almost a bit frustrating that it was so clear in the end.”
Russell: McLaren does “incredible work”
But the McLaren pilots don’t do that. The Mercedes star is convinced anyway: “Your biggest advantage is in tire management. Today you saw that a stop was relatively effortlessly possible, but we have to wait and see what it looks like on routes that cause more overheating the tires – as we saw it in Melbourne with the intermediate or in Bahrain when testing. There were even stronger.”
For the Papaya team, Russell has only praise words: “McLaren did a great job, Oscar and Lando drive at the highest level, and we have to continue to push to reduce the deficit.” Mercedes try everything to catch up, “but they do incredible work,” says Russell, referring to the customer team.
Nevertheless, the Brit hopes that the silver arrows can offer more and more and more paroli in the course of the season: “If we have a car that is able to fight against McLaren, then I am sure that we can beat them. We work as a team incredibly focused, and that’s exactly how we have to continue. As the result of Sunday only proves too well …