Photo: LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
You’ve got to hand it to George Russell, he’s been as consistent as Max Verstappen this year, albeit with a lesser car. The Mercedes driver finished on the podium four times in the last five races alone (seven podiums total this year), following his P3 result at Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
After the race, Russell went on to say that he was satisfied with the result, but not so much with his car’s overall performance. He was especially disappointed by the pace of his W13 racer, especially compared to how it performed during FP1 on Friday.
“I’m satisfied with the result, not satisfied with the performance no doubt,” said the British driver. “Strange weekend; we started off on a really strong foot in FP1, the car was feeling great, pace was strong, and it just went away from us, and we don’t really know why that was.”
“So, it was a pretty long, lonely race, the pace wasn’t good; it wasn’t the most enjoyable one for sure.”
Russell was particularly surprised by Ferrari’s pace this weekend, saying that he simply couldn’t fight for P2 because of how quick Leclerc was – although, not quick enough (to challenge Verstappen) obviously.
“I think when we look back, the softs was our most competitive stint. We were sort off between arm’s length of the Red Bull and Ferrari at the beginning after the first 20 laps.”
“It’s not that fun when you can’t really lean on the tires and push the car, but as I said on the radio on my in-lap, we are scoring these podiums when the car’s fast, we are scoring these podiums when the car is off the pace, we’ve got to take the positives from that.”
Russell is currently fourth in the 2022 Driver Standings with 203 points, well ahead of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton (168 points). At this juncture, it’s not inconceivable that Russell could leapfrog both Perez (210 pts) and Leclerc (219 pts) and finish second in the standings behind Verstappen, when it’s all said and done.
“I’m satisfied with the result, not satisfied with the performance no doubt,” said the British driver. “Strange weekend; we started off on a really strong foot in FP1, the car was feeling great, pace was strong, and it just went away from us, and we don’t really know why that was.”
“So, it was a pretty long, lonely race, the pace wasn’t good; it wasn’t the most enjoyable one for sure.”
Russell was particularly surprised by Ferrari’s pace this weekend, saying that he simply couldn’t fight for P2 because of how quick Leclerc was – although, not quick enough (to challenge Verstappen) obviously.
“I think when we look back, the softs was our most competitive stint. We were sort off between arm’s length of the Red Bull and Ferrari at the beginning after the first 20 laps.”
“It’s not that fun when you can’t really lean on the tires and push the car, but as I said on the radio on my in-lap, we are scoring these podiums when the car’s fast, we are scoring these podiums when the car is off the pace, we’ve got to take the positives from that.”
Russell is currently fourth in the 2022 Driver Standings with 203 points, well ahead of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton (168 points). At this juncture, it’s not inconceivable that Russell could leapfrog both Perez (210 pts) and Leclerc (219 pts) and finish second in the standings behind Verstappen, when it’s all said and done.
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