Imola [Italy], May 18 (ANI): After Mercedes pulled him in for a late pit stop, George Russell said he would not “sulk” at losing to his teammate Lewis Hamilton for sixth place at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
At the beginning of the race, Hamilton overtook Yuki Tsunoda to move up to seventh place, right behind Russell, who at the end of lap 21 switched from his medium tyres to the hard compound.
As the 63-lap race came to an end, Hamilton continued to lead six more laps before he made his first pit stop, giving him a tire advantage. Mercedes chose to bring Russell in so he would finish ahead of the Mexican driver since his tires were wearing off and he was in danger of being passed by Hamilton and Sergio Perez of Red Bull if he had continued to race and had to pit.
Russell took home six points for finishing seventh and an extra point for turning the best lap of the race on his new tires, while Hamilton would take home the eight points available for placing sixth.
“You’re never going to be happy with P6 and P7. At the end of the day, as a team we scored an extra point. I lost my position to Lewis but I’m not going to sulk over losing a P6,” Russell told Sky Sports.
Later Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff clarified why Russell was told that Hamilton would not let him through to retake sixth.
“His lap times were getting slower and slower, and our forecast saw he was not going to make it to the end and we didn’t want to lose the position to Perez,” Wolff told Sky Sports
“Lewis would have probably taken him anyway. The point being that we are racing for P6 and P7 and wanted to keep the Red Bull behind. It was a safety call,” he added.
While Mercedes stayed well off the pace Max Verstappen claimed a victory after a late charge from the McLaren driver Lando Norris. For Ferrari Charles Leclerc took the third spot on the podium, with his team-mate Carlos Sainz finished at fifth behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
“This is where we are right now. A little bit in no man’s land behind the Ferraris and McLarens but ahead of the midfield. Everyone is still super motivated, the morale isn’t dropping at all, which is quite inspiring to say. Everyone is trying to make this work and improve it,” Russell added.
“Everyone in Brackley and Brixworth are working full gas right now, which is great to see. We have got to keep on pushing. At the end of the day, we maximised it,” he said. (ANI)
