George Russell was fifth during the first stint of the race at Albert Park, before pitting as the safety car appeared, allowing him to jump to third, ahead of Red Bull driver Sergio Perez and of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton.
This is Russell’s first podium with the Mercedes team, after debuting his Formula 1 locker at the controversial 2021 Belgian Grand Prix.
With 20 laps to go, Russell was ordered not to fight Perez for third place as he had to manage his tires until the end of the race. The Mexican managed to overtake the British three laps later, thus climbing to third place.
But after Max Verstappen retired in the closing stages of the race, the Mercedes driver was able to clinch third place after keeping Hamilton at a distance in the closing stages.
This first podium of the season has come after a difficult start to the season for the German team, which has not been able to match the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari.
“You have to be there to win, and take advantage of other people’s bad luck,” Russell said. “Obviously we’ve been a bit lucky today, probably twice, but we accept it.”
“Very hard work is being done at the Brackley and Brixworth factories to try to get back to the front, so to be on the podium is special.
Russell acknowledged that it was “difficult to lose a podium place” in giving up the spot to Perez, but agreed that the long-term benefits made it not worth the fight.
“I want to do everything possible to keep the fastest car behind, but in the end we had to manage that tire,” said the Englishman. “The left front tire was worse in the last corner, and I couldn’t manage it well.
“I really wanted to go further, but I reckon we would have gone off a cliff if I had gone faster,” he explained, referring to the potential performance loss of the compounds.
“I knew Lewis wasn’t going to make it easy for me. He never gives up, and he was pushing hard until the end, but I think I’ve managed it well and I’ve always been able to stay out of the DRS detection zone, once that Checo has passed me, it has been quite easy”.
Mercedes has been struggling with extreme porpoising in its W13 so far this season, with Russell saying the team had been “way behind our rivals” in Australia as they finished more than a second off the lap of the race. pole position from Charles Leclerc, but stressed that Mercedes “will never give up”.
“I think it’s going to be a while until we can wrestle these guys in red and blue, they look pretty exceptional right now,” Russell said. “But if someone can, Mercedes can, so we’re going for it.”
