Russell, a new top 5 with a bittersweet taste in Belgium

One more which makes thirteen! George Russell once again finished in the top 5 at the Belgian Grand Prix. This is the 13th time in 14 races that the driver Mercedes finishes in the top five. Exemplary consistency, which he demonstrated again at Spa-Francorchamps. Starting 5th, he was able to avoid the mayhem between Fernando Alonso et Lewis Hamilton in front of him at the Combes bend. Promoted to 3rd place, the Briton then gave in to Max Verstappen before returning to Carlos Sainz in the second part of the race.

After putting pressure on the Spaniard for a long time, George Russell was ultimately unable to overcome the Ferrari and had to settle for 4th place. A good result for the Silver Arrows, compared to the difficulties encountered during practice and qualifying. The English driver was slightly frustrated at the finish of the Grand Prix. According to him, the podium was within his reach. “ To be honest, I thought I would get it [3rd place], Russell admitted. I have a bit of mixed feelings at the moment. If you had told me last night [Saturday] that I would be two seconds from the podium on a regular basis on pure pace, I probably would have signed. »

Like many drivers, George Russell struggled with his tires. With the sun returning to the Walloon route, the degradation and heating of the tires were higher than expected. “When I was getting closer to one second per lap, I said to myself, here we go, we are in a good phase. And then I had two really difficult laps, explained the young Mercedes driver. The tires are out of their operating window. When they're in the right place the car is transformed, but as soon as I lost them I knew it was over. But nevertheless, 4th, two seconds from the podium, is not so bad. »

“Our pace was probably better than the Ferraris” believes Russell

Far from the pace of the two top teams on Friday and Saturday, the Mercedes of George Russell regained momentum on Sunday, with a better pace in the race. If the W13 was still far from Red Bull, the comparison with the Ferrari is more flattering. With only 2 seconds behind Sainz, the Briton estimates that his car was surely faster than those of Maranello. “We have to review our Grand Prix, but I think today our race pace was probably better than the Ferrari. Carlos [Sainz] started on pole and led the first stint and we caught him both times. So yes, at worst, we were tied with Ferrari (…). »

Despite the slight disappointment of not being on the podium, George Russell says he is reassured by the ability of his car to perform in the race. “Every time we've had bad qualifying this year, apart from Silverstone for me, we've gained those places in the first two or three laps,” said the Englishman. Even if we qualified 6th, 7th or 8th, it didn't compromise our race too much, when you look at how things went. »

Thanks to this umpteenth top 5, George Russell consolidated his 5th place in the championship. The ex-pilot Williams is now 24 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who retired in the first round in Belgium after his contact with Fernando Alonso.

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