George Russell: A bit of a strange victory!

George Russell didn’t expect to win the race in Spielberg, but he is very happy with this victory…

Question: George, what does this win mean to you?
George Russell: I am delighted! In the last three races we have really improved. In Montreal they deserved the win, but finished third. Today we deserved third, but we won the race. Everything in our sport changes quickly. This progress is the result of the hard work of the team.

Question: This route brings out your best qualities. You are the first to win here in GP3, Formula 2 and now Formula 1…
George Russel: It turns out so. I like this route. The past few years have been very difficult for our team. And we didn’t have high expectations for this weekend. But in the end I qualified third yesterday and fought for the podium.

I think our car is still the third fastest, behind Red Bull and McLaren, but in the last three races Lewis and I have always been in the top three – and we are getting the best out of the car.

Question: On the way to the starting grid you expressed some concerns about the car on the radio…
George Russell: It was very windy there, the car was behaving strangely. But we checked all systems – everything was fine.

At the start of the race Lewis attacked me, but then I passed him and I was able to break away from Carlos. I knew Oscar would be fast, but he came out of nowhere at the end of the race on hard tires. The situation was difficult and suddenly Toto shouted in my ear: “You can win.”

I almost died when he screamed in my ears. It was so loud. But it just shows the passion we all share. It’s great to be back on top of the podium.

Q: Is this the best weekend you and the team have had this year?
George Russell: Yes, without a doubt. We did everything well. In every session we got the maximum and qualified as high as possible. I started well. On Saturday our maximum was fourth place, on Sunday third place, but we achieved more.

Q: Do you dream of repeating this success at Silverstone?
George Russel: Why not dream. Anything can happen. The Red Bull cars are very fast in the high-speed corners this weekend, so they will look great at Silverstone too. But we still have a few days. On Tuesday I will work on the simulator, I am looking forward to that day.

Q: What did you think when you saw Max and Lando’s accident? What did the engineers tell you on the radio before Toto screamed?
George Russel: To be honest, I was completely focused on piloting. Markus, my engineer, said three laps earlier that they were fighting very closely and that we could win. And I replied, “Listen, let’s get a foothold in third place first.” And I knew Oscar was very fast behind me. And when I took the lead, I realized that the last six laps were going to be difficult. The tires were worn and overheated, but thanks to the virtual safety car mode I was able to cool them down.

Yes, a bit of a strange victory, but that’s racing. Sometimes things go against you and I feel like we probably missed one or two opportunities to win. In Montreal, last year in Singapore, but today everything turned out in our favor.

Q: How do you plan to celebrate this victory? No two-day showers I think, because you go back to work on Tuesday.
George Russel: In the evening I’m at home, my girlfriend and one of my good friends are waiting for me. I’m flying back with Fernando. I hope he doesn’t leave me here, because I have a lot of interviews today.

Of course I want to celebrate. Moments like these cannot be taken for granted. I have a feeling that there are still many victories to come, but in an era of total dominance by one team and one driver, every victory by another driver is extremely pleasant.