George Russell on last race and Mercedes form

Mercedes rookie George Russell is second in the individual standings after three Grands Prix – attributing this to the car’s reliability…

George Russell: “The podium in Melbourne is the credit of the team, our staff in Brackley and Brixworth, who have built a reliable car. Of course we are still behind Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of speed, but to earn points you have to finish the race first. This weekend we were the fifth fastest team behind McLaren and Alpine. And third place at the finish in such a situation and second in the individual classification – it’s unbelievable!

When the safety car took off after the Vettel accident, I realized I was lucky. But this is part of the game, of our sport. Sometimes things work in your favor, sometimes against you. I’ve had both in my career. It’s just part of motorsport.

I would like to say that we have made a lot of progress, but in terms of lap times we have not closed the gap at all. We know there is a lot of work to be done. This car has potential that we need to unleash. It won’t happen overnight. We will not make it to the next race, but one day we will return to the battle for victories.

Obviously we all want to be a partner ahead, but Lewis and I are not interested in fighting for fifth or sixth place. We will work with the team to reclaim the gap. It’s not insulting whether he’s to me, whether I’m to him – now it doesn’t matter.

It is important that we have achieved the highest possible result in every race we have participated in. Unfortunately, no serious novelties are expected in the near future. Their preparation will take several races. There will be some small things, some steps forward, but Ferrari and Red Bull are not standing still either, so our progress may not be completely clear to the outside observer.