Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG-PETRONAS F1 Team
It was a tale of what could have been for George Russell today at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Starting in P3, Russell had a sniff at the lead into turn one as Verstappen and Leclerc went wide but settled for third place and maintained that place until the opening phase of pit stops on lap 15.
However, things took a turn for the worst on lap 25. Russell was running in P4 at the time but what would be a net P3 after Stroll would pit from P2.
Russell was being hounded by Verstappen on newer tyres and they made contact at turn 12, resulting in some damage to Verstappen’s front wing and Russell receiving a five second penalty for causing the collision as he turned in on the Dutchman.
After the race, Russell held his hands up and took full blame for the incident.
“The incident with Max was totally my fault. I didn’t see him. Totally in my blind spot around Turn 11 I wasn’t really expecting the overtake there because you’ve got the big long straight with DRS afterwards,” said the Brit.
Russell was disappointed to lose out on another potential rostrum spot, given the fact his only podium finish this season was at the Spanish Grand Prix back in early June. Mistakes have cost him multiple podiums throughout the season, and that was the case once again in Las Vegas.
“We were on course for an easy podium. It was pretty straightforward. Recovered to P4 but the five seconds knocks us down to P8.”
The 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix winner is looking forward to next weekend to end his season on a high and is hoping to step on the podium again.
“Ultimately, we just need to keep on pushing, go into next week and see what we can do,” concluded Russell.
