The Mercedes driver, starting first after his first F1 pole position, opted to start the Hungarian race on the soft tyres , while the Ferraris just behind him chose the medium tyres.
With heavy rain forecast for the start of the race, George Russell said he was “rubbing his hands” in anticipation of using the advantage of the soft tyres, which are better suited to running in slippery conditions.
But once the rain did not finish pressing, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc got very close to him and he was forced to enter the pits before, leaving him exposed and with means in the second part of the test
“I knew it was going to be a tough afternoon because there was a chance of rain throughout the race,” said Russell, who finished third. “Normally when you’re on pole position and it’s sputtering you’re pretty disappointed, but knowing I was on the soft tyres, I was rubbing my hands.
“I had a very good start, the first four laps were very strong and I cut the gap to three seconds with Carlos [Sainz] and unfortunately the rain stopped so I had to put on medium tyres, but we still had a good first stint and we pitted early both times to cover ourselves from Max [Verstappen] and the Ferraris and in the end Max was too quick for us today.”
“That put us in a very difficult position in that last stint with the media and I was already struggling a bit and my engineer said it was 25 laps to go and again it started to rain and the temperatures started to drop so I thought they were going to be some tricky last turns”.
After being overtaken by Max Verstappen in the second round of stops, Russell gave up the position to his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was on the soft tires in the final stint and dropped to third at the end, after stay away from Sainz.
“Lewis [Hamilton] did an unbelievable job and he had a much better pace at the end, he had a very strong mid stint,” Russell said.
“I think that as a team we have a lot to be proud of, we have done everything well for both of us, to give us as a team the best opportunity to fight for victory. Unfortunately, today did not go as we wanted, but as a team we have done everything well” .
Russell has moved up to fourth in the F1 drivers’ standings, two points ahead of Sainz, thanks to his fifth podium finish of the season.
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