At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, George Russell maintained he wasn’t too angry about coming in second to Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. At Imola, they had to make do with sixth and seventh position, with Hamilton overtaking Russell in the closing stages of the race.
Russell led Hamilton the entire way until the last 14 laps, when he was forced to make an additional pit stop to install a fresh set of medium tires. Although he was faster than Hamilton throughout the weekend, it meant that he ended one position behind the leader. However, it also gave him an extra point for recording the fastest lap of the race.
Russell said that he was not as upset about finishing sixth as he would have been if he had been battling for the race victory in his post-race remarks.
“You’re never going to be happy with sixth and seventh,” he stated. “As a team, we managed to score one more point in the end. To be honest, I won’t be upset about finishing sixth because Lewis won my spot. We currently find ourselves somewhere in the middle of nowhere, trailing the Ferraris and McLarens but ahead of the midfield.”
Mercedes was evidently the fourth-fastest team in Imola and had little prospect of overtaking the drivers in front of them. In an attempt to keep the Mexican driver at bay, Russell stopped for new tires in the second half of the race after Sergio Perez placed pressure on them from behind.
Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes, gave the following explanation for the decision to replace Russell’s hard tires with mediums: “His lap times were getting slower and slower.” That was the call because our wear estimates at the time indicated he wouldn’t last, and we didn’t want to lose the job to Perez.”
Despite their most recent dismal performance, Wolff insisted that his team is still headed in the right direction. The Silver Arrows will not be pleased with their sixth and seventh place finishes.
“If you look at the gap to the front and our closest competitors, you see progress,” he stated. “We have been saying for a long that these are not the positions we want to be in, but we also notice that others’ leads are closing. Right now, we have to accept that things take time and require patience.
“We are aware that there are upcoming innovations that will enhance the vehicle’s balance. We are making progress even though our current positions are inadequate. We’ll concentrate on making the most of our current package and trying to earn points during the race.”
