George Russell expressed his frustration with what he described as “missed opportunities” throughout the season following a P5 finish at the United States Grand Prix. He acknowledged that he had been on the back foot from the start of the race, having made a bad start and dropping three spots.
Photo credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
His struggles were compounded as he had to manage fuel and the engine during the second stint on hards.
“Story of the season really. It feels like missed opportunities. On the back foot from the beginning, making a bad start.
“Then we put the hard tyre on, had to manage the fuel, manage the engine a little bit — and we were about a second off the pace.”
Despite this, Russell and the team managed to put on a strong performance, becoming the quickest car on track once they switched to medium tyres. He officially took over 7s out of Verstappen’s lead and just over 2s out of the deficit to Hamilton.
“Then we put the medium back on and we were the quickest car on track. We closed back in on Max by about 10 seconds and on Lewis by a couple of seconds.
“Sort of standing here thinking it was definitely another missed opportunity and frustrated we were not on the podium.”
He also reflected on his past performances in Austin, acknowledging that the track is historically a challenging one for him.
“Austin has always been a bogey track for me. I’ve always struggled a bit here. I’m not too concerned because this is probably an outlier with how bumpy it is. It has really old tarmac with cracks around it so I’m not concerned.”
Russell emphasised the impact of fine margins in the sport, pointing out that he was off pace in qualifying but saw significant improvement in the race. His ability to close in on Verstappen and Hamilton demonstrated that the car had more potential than he could deliver.
