At Barcelona, George Russell finished third and took the podium for the second time this season. The Mercedes driver assures that the updates to the car may be added, but it is too early to talk about the battle for the wins.
Q: George, how do you evaluate the result of the race?
George Russell: I’m happy to be on the podium and I think the result was the result of hard work on the bases in Brackley and Brixworth. We’ve always said that we should be in such positions to earn points in case of problems with rivals, especially on days when cars and drivers are particularly difficult.
I feel the team is making progress and I think we have already turned the page. We can say that for us the season has only just started.
Question You’ve already climbed the podium in Australia. Has the gap with the leaders narrowed compared to that race?
George Russell: Yes, sure, and I say it honestly. I think we have halved the gap with the leaders compared to the start of the season and I think we can add more. In the first races we were more concerned with solving problems than trying to get more speed out of the car.
Finally we managed to solve the problems, and now we can focus on improving the efficiency. Six races behind already, but there’s no reason to think we won’t be able to recoup.
Q: Can you tell us about your struggle with Max?
George Russell: Yes, I liked it. Max and I first met at the track in 2011, so it was nice to compete with him again. I came into Formula 1 to fight and win, so I’m not going to make life easy for anyone.
In a way I felt sorry for Max because he was clearly the fastest, but he had problems with DRS. I think we had a hard but fair fight. This is what we want and expect from Formula 1.
Q: Did you have to control the temperature during the race or did the overheating problem only show up in the final laps?
George Russell: No, the problem was already there when I fought with Max. I had to control the condition of the tires, the engine was overheating, but I had to try to go as fast as I could to keep it back. I had to check many parameters.
In the last five or six laps, the task was already to make it to the finish, as the car was working on the limit throughout the race. The team helped us tremendously to attack, but at the same time not let go.
Nobody likes such tough races in high temperatures, but at times like these you can win something back. If you do better than others, you get a reward. I’m glad I got this result.
Source: F1 News
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