In his first performance in the colors of the Mercedes, Russell, who raced for Williams last year and this year in Formula 1, dominated most of the weekend. He won both Friday’s trainings, finishing second in the qualification with a loss of 26 thousandths to Valtteri Bottas.
Russell made a good start and in the first corner he got to the front, where he built up the lead. He increased even more after the first pit stops. When the race was then slowed down by a safety car, Mercedes decided to call both of his drivers into the pits at once.
But the mechanics changed the tires, and Russell got Bottas tires on his car. The Brit had to go to the pits again a lap later, falling to fifth place.
On fresher tires, however, he was able to quickly get ahead of his opponents to second place behind Sergio Pérez. At that moment, however, he got a slow flat tire and had to go to the pits again. In the end, he managed to fight his way to ninth place, thus gaining his first points in Formula 1. In addition, he drove the fastest lap of the race.
“I had races where I lost my victory. But twice, I can’t believe it. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I rode with all my heart. Especially at the beginning I had the race under control, then the safety car drove off, which upset me, “said Russell.
“It simply came to our notice then. I showed good overtimes, I was motivated, I was ready to chase Sergio and get the victory back. It would be tight, but we could do it. And then it left us again. This is racing.
“If you told me at the beginning of the weekend that I would score, I would say it will be a fantastic weekend! But if you told me I was going to lead a race and then it would end like this … argh … It really hurts, it really hurt when I got out of the car. I talked to my parents right away, I knew they felt it. They said I should be proud of something. The same Toto (Wolff), James (Vowles) and Bono. So maybe I’ve done a lot for Toto to solve in the future. I’m happy, I’m proud. “
Bottas also had problems in the pits
Bottas, who until then was second to Russell, also had a problem at the second stop. The mechanics were unable to fit the left front tire and Fin stayed in the pits for half a minute. He finally reached the finish line three seconds ahead of Russell in eighth place.
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