Russell: I knew my setup was better than Lewis’s

At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, George Russell Lewis Hamilton was ahead in qualifying and the race. After the finish, Lewis stated that he lost to his partner due to the wrong choice of settings, and if he had chosen the same settings as Russell, he would have achieved a better result. At a press conference in Melbourne, George was asked to comment on the words of the seven-time world champion.

George Russell: “I don’t think you can talk about luck in choosing the right settings. My result was a result of the preparation for the stage and the changes we made to the car over the weekend. I knew I had chosen the right direction to work with the team and I was confident that my setup would be better than Lewis’s.

All riders have different preferences, but I am happy with the work done, together with the engineers. Overall, I think I spent one of my best weekends with Mercedes in Saudi Arabia. From qualifying I was happy with how it went and I think fourth place is our maximum.

In Jeddah, Fernando Alonso was a little faster than us. We can’t forget the retirement of Lance Stroll, who was right behind us at the time. Fourth place was a good result.”

Russell commented on the situation with the podium Fernando Alonso. In Jeddah, the stewards first penalized the Spanish rider, and third place went to George, then canceled the penalty and returned Alonso to a top three place.

“I met Fernando at the airport and he was the first to say that I had lost my third place. He clearly had insider information,” George said. “It was clearly the right decision.

It’s a pity that all this confusion started. We didn’t feel like we deserved third, but it was nice to get it. However, it was a bit silly when we were taken out of position.”