Russell: It wasn’t until the last lap that I realized we were going to win

George Russell won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with his first Formula 1 win, then shared what it was like…

Q: George, congratulations! Of course, you have been dreaming about this moment for a long time, and now tell us how everything turned out in reality …
George Russell: Yes, emotions are exaggerated, and of course I have long dreamed of winning, but you never know how things will turn out. I think we had a good race and had the situation completely under control.

When the safety car came out I knew Lewis would be very quick on the restart and I thought it was going to be difficult for me. But I was able to ride a series of very good circles, almost without making any mistakes.

You understand the pressure from Lewis was huge, but overall I’m very proud of our team. We’ve made incredible progress since the start of the year, and now for the start of next season, we’ve all received such a powerful boost.

Q: At critical moments of the race, at the start and during restarts, you acted very well. How hard was it?
George Russell: Of course it was not easy for me. But you just have to act clearly and treat these situations the same as any other. There was a moment during the race when I had to constantly look in the mirrors and I saw that Lewis was very close. And then I suddenly realized that now all I have to do is look ahead.

I could only win this race by looking ahead, driving as fast as possible and trying not to make any mistakes. On the radio, the engineer gave me information about the size of the hole, probably four times per lap. The gap ranged from 1.1 seconds to 1.4 seconds – I just wanted to create a small buffer, at least half a second. But it wasn’t until the last sector of the last lap that I realized we were going to win the race.

Q: At one point in the race you asked the question on the radio, “Will Lewis and I fight each other in the last ten laps?” Were you surprised by the answer you got?
George Russell: Yes and no. Because we have always said that we can compete freely on the track. Toto Wolff and the whole team have full confidence in Lewis and me and of course during the season it happened more than once that we fought wheel to wheel, but we always showed mutual respect.

I think we have a lot of respect for each other and I just wanted to be clear because I understood how important it is for a team to win a double.

And if Lewis and I didn’t participate in these last laps, then we should just make it to the finish. And if you can compete, you have to drive every remaining lap at a qualifying pace and in every corner you have to take risks. So of course I’m glad I was able to win that way.

Q: Can you tell us more about how both reboots went?
George Russell: It is always difficult to start on this track because the start-finish line is so far away. I hardly have anything to add. I think I did a good job on both reboots.

Q: Are you confident for the season finale in Abu Dhabi?
George Russell: Intuition tells us that we will be about at the level of Ferrari there. Maybe even narrow the gap with Red Bull a bit. I suppose the circuits the last two races were held on are not too fast in nature, and on such circuits we have performed well even this season.

And yet our team has made incredible progress. Since Austin, we have been ready to fight for the win, and now everyone has a very confident attitude – both the race crew and everyone who works at the base in Brackley. And we will do everything we can to have a car from the very beginning of winter testing with which we can fight for wins from the very first race.

Q: How much faster was the car compared to the start of the season?

George Russell: More than a second, that’s for sure. In my opinion I showed the 9th result in qualifying in Bahrain. In Imola, Lewis and I were eliminated in the second session. At the start of the season, Alfa Romeo and Haas were our rivals and we were more than a second behind Ferrari. Then it seemed that this team is the strongest. I think it’s clear what important improvements we’ve made.

We lost a lot of time trying to solve the problem of the vertical swing of the machine, and this affected the pace of modernization. Such a noticeable increase in speed in the last eight races is precisely because we no longer have to pay so much attention to the build-up problem. Now we are mainly engaged in improving the efficiency of the machine.

Q: What feelings did you have when you crossed the finish line? Who or what were you thinking?
George Russell: To be honest, as soon as I crossed the finish line I immediately cried and was even surprised at how quickly it happened. It just happened as we got to the 2nd turn. Tears flowed like a river.

I thought of my family, of everyone who stayed at home. This is my mother, my girlfriend, my sister and her husband, my brother and my father… I know they all watched the race together, and after the finish, as soon as I turned on the phone, I called them all right away.

Life in Formula 1 is not that easy, and although we are all doing what we have dreamed of, emotions, moods are very dependent on the results. When we go home after the races, we are either very happy when everything has gone well or we are quite upset.

It’s not easy for everyone, and I’m talking about all of us now, not just my family.

And I also thought about those who supported me at Mercedes, including Gwen Lagrue, who was very important in giving me this opportunity. For those who don’t know, Gwen leads the Mercedes youth program and is responsible for all drivers – he was the one who invited me to Mercedes.

But I got support from Mercedes and Williams, from all the people who helped me through the years of my career in karting, Formula 4, Formula 3. The list is endless. And all these thoughts flashed through my mind in those few tens of seconds that the trail took to the closed-off park. Of course I was flooded with emotions.

Q: Surely everyone is wondering how are you going to celebrate the first win?
George Russell: We just spoke to Carlos, we have to fly together from here to Abu Dhabi, the flight is 15 hours, so…

Carlos Sainz (intervenes in conversation): I promised that everything would be on my account.

George Russell: I think they give it on board the plane for free, right?

Carlos Sainz (laughs): That’s why I said everything will be at my expense!