“You can’t get it right every time.” This is the conclusion of Mercedes driver George Russell on the Formula 1 race in Singapore.
Because technical problems hindered him practically from the start on the street circuit, only in the race did his W13 Silver Arrow work normally again. But the Grand Prix did not develop as desired for Russell either.
Russell, driving off from the pit lane after a drive change, soon saw himself on course for World Championship points. “We were very, very fast, I think. If it had been for the incident with Mick [Schumacher] If that wasn’t the case, we would definitely still have made it into the top 10,” says Russell.
However, there was an incident with Schumacher, namely a contact that resulted in an emergency stop for both drivers to change tires. That threw Russell and Schumacher back to the bottom of the field and the chances for points were gone.
That’s what George Russell says about the crash with Mick Schumacher
The scene with Schumacher, where Russell wanted to squeeze inside on the home stretch, still puzzles the Mercedes driver: “I’m not quite sure what happened there, but that’s how it works sometimes in Formula 1. “
“We’ve had a really good run up to this point. As a team we’ve been relatively unscathed, but this weekend it went against us,” says Russell.
What exactly slowed him down in qualifying “we don’t know yet,” he explains and names “something with the brakes” as a possible reason for the Q2 exit. “On Sunday the car felt normal again, but I don’t think it was set up correctly for the whole weekend because we had a huge problem in qualifying.”
However, Mercedes seems to have found a solution overnight. Russell says he “gained confidence back” on race day, saying: “We were back to our normal pace. We definitely had a car that could have won this weekend. It’s just a shame how this weekend turned out.”
George Russell as a guinea pig with slicks
And it remained turbulent for Russell, who had to serve as a “guinea pig” in the race and was the first to be sent out on dry tires on a still damp track. He reveals: Slicks were not his choice. “I asked for new intermediates!”
“But in a situation like this, I rely on the team and the team relies on me. They probably thought it was time to try something and take slicks. That was the completely wrong decision at that point, he made himself but paid later.”
Once Russell’s medium tires were up to temperature and the track conditions allowed for fast laps, Russell was the best man in the field, even overtaking “three cars in one lap” after the end of a safety car phase, he says, and he advanced to eleventh place. Then he attacked Schumacher and the chance to score was gone.
But a bit of risk is part of such a turbulent Grand Prix, especially as someone who has hopelessly backfired. “There was a bit of a mess,” Russell says of communicating with the team. “In a race like this, everyone is tense, especially when you’re driving in the middle of nowhere. Then you just have to try something.”