George Russell expressed disappointment over Mercedes’ performance at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The British driver was able to keep up with race leaders Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri in the early stages of the Saudi Arabian GP, but saw the two disappear on the horizon during the second stint. To make matters worse, Russell then had to let Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris pass him. “The fifth place is therefore where we deserved to finish,” concludes the driver.
George Russell started the race in Jeddah from the third position, and therefore had a good view of a podium finish. Unfortunately for the Brit, Charles Leclerc put a stop to that. In lap 38, the Monegasque passed Russell, and the Brit saw his chance of a podium finish evaporate. Lando Norris then also overtook the Mercedes driver, so Russell had to settle for fifth place.
“It was a surprise, that we really struggled with tyre overheating,” Russell tells F1TV. “I could just keep up with the two in front of me (Verstappen and Piastri) at the beginning. In the second stint, I really had to fight for it, and suddenly my tyres were overheating. I then fell back, and lost a second per lap in the last seven, eight laps. The fifth place is therefore where we deserved to finish. The performance was quite disappointing.”
Unexpected
Despite Russell eventually finishing 27 seconds behind winner Piastri, he remains Mr. Consistency. The Brit has finished every race this season so far in the top five. “It’s interesting. We didn’t expect to be so good in Bahrain and we expected to be stronger here (in Jeddah). It turned out to be the opposite. That’s the nature of this sport and everyone is working hard to find more performance.”
Russell’s teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished one place behind the Brit, thus also scoring valuable points for the German team.
