George Russell defeated teammate Lewis Hamilton in a late battle for the podium at the Canadian Grand Prix, giving Mercedes their best finish of the F1 season thus far.
Even though he helped Mercedes to its first podium of the year, George Russell expressed regret for a “ugly race” at the Canadian Grand Prix.
In Montreal, Russell secured the third position, just one spot ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and the Silver Arrows experienced their finest finish of the year. The younger Briton passed Hamilton to take the podium position shortly after the seven-time Formula 1 champion had lost it to him.
But in the immediate aftermath, Russell’s only thought was what could have been. Starting from pole position, the 26-year-old led the race for the first twenty laps. For the majority of the Grand Prix, he was still in the running for the win even after losing the lead.
But he had far too many messy moments, which ended up costing him. He had to run over a kerb at the last chicane while battling Lando Norris, which caused him to momentarily lose that podium spot to Hamilton before regaining it.
However, Russell also had time to collide with Oscar Piastri’s other McLaren, forcing him into the run-off area at the same section of the track. However, he went on to claim his first podium since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix of the previous year.
Russell apologized to his team over the radio for making too many mistakes while on course after winning the chequered flag. “Ugly race on my behalf,” he said. Regret that. I apologize profusely for that.”
Even after getting out of his Mercedes and grabbing a microphone for his interview at the parc ferme, he continued to project a frustrated demeanor. The disappointed British player expressed that he felt the victory was a “missed opportunity.”
Russell went on: “We started the race really quick on the inters, but obviously Lando came through really quickly. After that, we jumped back onto the slicks, made a few mistakes there, and paid the price for pushing the limits.”
“We set the pace. Max was very strong in the race at that point. However, we were extremely fast when it came time to put on the mediums. I believe that my error in trying to pass Oscar, which caused me to lose the lead to Lewis, cost us at least P2, and it also raised the possibility that we would clash with Max later in the race. But we’ll focus on this weekend’s positives only. First podium, first place in the pole this year, and eager to go on.”
Toto Wolff, the team principal, expressed satisfaction with the progress made despite the disappointment. “We could have taken one or two more positions and then possibly have fought for victory,” he stated. Although it is somewhat bittersweet, in the end, we would have accepted third and fourth place if you had told us before the weekend.”
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