The Mercedes driver had a solid home race, ending the weekend with a fifth Top 5 result of his season. Starting on soft tyres from P6 compared to mediums all around him, Russell won the battle with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for P5 on the opening lap and went on to duel with the other Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc for P4.
In spite of him reporting drops on his visor, rain never impacted the race. The 2022 Brazilian GP winner pitted for mediums, but unfortunately suffered from a delay caused by issues on his front right tyre,. He spent the final laps of his race at Silverstone behind the “impressive” Oscar Piastri on hards, bringing back home solid points for the second time in a row after his crash in Canada.
Russell complimented the McLaren drivers in his post race interview, especially Piastri, the rookie driver that had started in P3 for his best qualifying result in his Fromula 1 career so far. He missed out on the final podium position due to pitting two laps before the Saftey Car issued for Kevin Magnussen’s retirement.
The timing of the safety car instead advantaged Russell’s teammate Lewis Hamilton in securing P3 in front of his home crowd:
“The McLarens were super-impressive, they drove a great race. I feel bad for Oscar, because he was driving really, really well. I’ve been super-impressed by what he’s been achieving this year and he was the deserving podium finisher. Unfortunate Safety Car timing, that hindered him and hindered myself.”
The upgrades the Woking-based team had started to introduce in Austria and brought in these round for both cars definitely have brought the McLarens up to the top of the midfield fight, surprising the British driver, who is still satisfied with his and his team’s weekend:
“In the end, I think it was a relatively good weekend for us. Our pace compared to Ferrari, Aston and Red Bull was probably better than we thought, but those McLarens have just come from nowhere, so we don’t really know what to think.”
Photo credits: Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team
The former Williams driver also called out Leclerc on “questionable” moves he made while defending P4 in the early stages, but wasn’t left too mad about it as it didn’t have a strong impact on his final race result:
“I was really happy with my soft, enjoying the car, pushing hard. Some questionable defending from Charles at points. Just couldn’t get past.”
“It was a little bit frustrating, just didn’t quite have the edge to get past him in the corners I needed. But in the end it didn’t really change my race.”
In spite of not managing to score his first podium at his home race, in front of his fellow British fans and his family, overall Russell was satisfied with his consistent weekend:
“I think had I got past him earlier, I would have probably pitted even earlier, still being caught out by the Safety Car. So, enjoyed the weekend, great to see the fans. It was an incredible atmosphere, had my family here, they really enjoyed the weekend. Shame not to be on the podium, but all in all, it was a good one,” he concluded on a high note.
