2023-08-05 12:58:26
George Russell reckons his Belgian Grand Prix suffered badly from Oscar Piastri’s idling McLaren on the first lap.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, George Russell chained a third consecutive finish in the top 6, but the satisfaction is not there for all that. Eighth on the starting grid, Russell maintained this level at the first corner but then found himself behind the McLaren in slow motionOscar Piastrithe latter involved in a collision with Carlos Sainz.
In a case that is reminiscent that even more prejudicial of Pierre GaslyRussell thus saw Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda et Lance Stroll walk past him, Alexander Albon having taken the advantage in turn in the straight line of Kemmel.
“I was just very unlucky at first”says the person concerned. “When Oscar had his failure, I went to the left, I misjudged his ability to turn a bit, I got stuck, and I lost four or five places. It dictated my race a bit. Without that, we would have finished fifth. I like to think I would have been level with Lewis. [Hamilton] and Charles [Leclerc]to fight for the podium.”
A well-executed one-stop strategy saw Russell move up to sixth, 13 seconds behind teammate Hamilton. The young Englishman did not have it easy with the W14’s high downforce configuration, however. Mercedes not having put its eggs in one basket – so its rear wing had been compared to a “barn door” by team manager Toto Wolff. “It’s just been a really tough weekend. I’m relieved it’s over. I reset the counters and here we go once more”adds Russell.
George Russell (Mercedes)
Russell does not hide being surprised by the evolution of the hierarchy, and in particular a McLaren team in withdrawal following two consecutive podiums for the papaya racing car of Lando Norris. “They weren’t as competitive as I expected for this race”he admits.
“I think Charles [Leclerc] may have been a surprise to us. I don’t think we expected them to be so fast. But we are well placed in the constructors’ championship, we don’t seem threatened at the moment. But our priority is to win a race this year.”
Russell draws in any case a mixed assessment of the first half of the season, he who only signed a podium, in Barcelona. Since the Catalan round, he has only scored 34 points: as many as Carlos Sainz, and significantly less than Fernando Alonso (50), Lando Norris (57), Charles Leclerc (57) or his teammate Lewis Hamilton (60).
“The first six races were really competitive, the last six not so much”comments Russell. “I have some thoughts on why: quite a few missed opportunities this season for various reasons. I’ve made mistakes, and failures like Australia’s [abandon sur problème moteur, ndlr] cost me a lot of points.”
“However, if you’re not fighting for the top spot in the Drivers’ Championship, you just want to do the best you can on the constructors’ side, and so far we’ve been pretty much doing that.” Mercedes takes second place in the constructors championship 50 points ahead of Aston Martin and even 55 on Ferrari.
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