BUDAPEST: George Russell was happy to complete strong double points finish for Mercedes by overriding his unexpected Q1 departure at the Hungaroring with a charging drive from the penultimate row of the grid to sixth place in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Russell lined up 18th because he ran his final qualifying run late and lost the race for track position to teammate Lewis Hamilton, who went on to take the pole.
However, on race day, Russell picked himself up and impressively made his way through the track with a different tyre strategy, starting on hards alongside Sergio Perez of Red Bull.
When Ferrari competitor Charles Leclerc was fined for speeding in the pit lane after the race, that seventh position moved up to sixth, giving Hamilton more points for his run to fourth.
“It was very satisfying. To come away P6 from P18, you couldn’t ask for much more – the car was feeling great. It’s obviously disappointing that we didn’t get more points as a team this weekend, because perhaps if we were both starting in the top four maybe one of us or even both of us could have had a podium today,” Russell was quoted as saying by Formula 1.
“When you have two cars fighting against one other team, you always have a bit of an advantage. That was a shame, no doubt, but we learn from it, we move on and it’s good points for the teams’ championship,” he added.
Pushed on what those learnings have been, Russell continued: “I mean, the qualifying was clear, there’s not a lot more to say from that. As a team we know that we made a big mistake and it won’t happen again.”
“You learn a lot more in life from the failures and the mistakes than you do from the successes, so you sort of need them here and there,” the Mercedes driver added.
Russell and Hamilton’s combined points score strengthens Mercedes’ grip on P2 in the constructors’ standings, with Aston Martin slipping back after finishing P9 and P10 with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll respectively. (ANI)