© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
George Russell comments on the lucky break he got with the Safety Car at the Miami Grand Prix, and admits it was “a total fluke”.
After a brilliant drive, George Russell managed to get from P12 to P5 at the Miami Grand Prix. However, he did get a little help from a perfectly timed Safety Car.
George went long with hard tyres and gambled on a Safety Car, which would allow him to have a ‘free pit stop’. The gamble paid off as the Safety Car came out on Lap 41.
After the race George admitted he got lucky.
“You sound like a bit of a genius when things like that happen but it was a total fluke,” the Briton said.
“It was obviously a good day to come home in P5. Especially after Lap 1, I was down in P15 and I was like ‘bugger, this is going to be a long afternoon.’
“But we showed some good pace. Still far from where we were on Friday [in FP2] so we need to understand why that is, but yes, P5 again.”
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Ultimately, while Russell is happy with the way things turned out, overall he has mixed feelings about the race.
“I was pushing as hard as I could. It was a brutal race out there: it was so hot, sweaty, my eyes were stinging, I had sweat pouring into my eyes, so I need to find a way to get around that!
“I think it’s mixed feelings to be honest, because obviously based on where we were yesterday, today was a good result.
“But if you told me after Friday [when he topped FP2] that we would finish P5 and P6 and that far behind P1, I would have been pretty disappointed.
“So, we have a fast racing car in there… [but] we don’t have the key to unlock this performance. We don’t really understand why that is.
“So there is work to do,” the Briton concluded.
