Stuck in a "loop" of anger and frustration, George Russell was to benefit from the wise advice of his team boss.

Angry at what he perceived as Sergio Perez having illegally gained from the encounter in which he was forced to cut the chicane after clashing with him, George Russell was involved in heated exchanges with his team demanding action.

In danger of allowing the red mist to descend and compromise his race, eventually Toto Wolff came on the radio (twice) to calm his driver, telling him to focus and hunt the Mexican down.

Heeding the advice, Russell settled down and shortly after got the opportunity to pass the Mexican courtesy of a shrewd move at the end of the VSC period that followed Guanyu Zhou's retirement.

"I felt that he was a little bit stuck in a loop of being upset about the situation," admitted Wolff at race end. "Obviously, as a driver, you're in your little cockpit, and I felt that he had to face that he just needed to drop the upsetness and concentrate whether he could beat him on track.

"And the end he was just clever," he added. "There was confusion with the virtual safety car... he just did it."

"Emotions are high there for all of us," admitted Russell. "I felt like I did a mega move on Checo, and ultimately didn't get to keep the position.

"We definitely had a bit more pace," he continued. "I quite enjoyed hearing Toto on the radio, but ultimately from my side, you're going absolutely flat out.

"We're in this together as a team, and when you're sat in the car, sometimes you do feel a bit alone because we're in the car, we're doing everything we can and you don't know what the engineers are looking at, the engineers don't totally feel what we're feeling within the car, and sometimes having these exchanges brings it a little bit closer together.

"I was pretty disappointed not to be able to keep that position," he said of the clash with Perez. "I saw him struggling when Sainz got past and I had that one opportunity.

"I felt it was my corner, I was down the inside, I had my front wheels in front of his rear wheels, and to the letter of the law, it was my corner. He squeezed me a bit onto the kerb and he went wide, and kept his position.

"I guess we'll talk about it after, but nevertheless, these things have a way of working themselves out, and the VSC restart was pretty tasty.

"I carried on, brought it home in P3, and it's two podiums for Mercedes. It's great," he grinned.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Le Castellet here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Endre, 25/07/2022 13:04

"What great drive??? He was out qualified by his team mate and beaten in the race. I hope to see him World Champion one day, but he needs to pick up his game. Something is not going well since the past few races. He is lacking performance or confidence and makes questionable passing choices. Hope it will be temporary, he is definitely not himself lately."

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2. Posted by Wokingchap, 25/07/2022 11:05

"That was great watching George fighting back to regain his place over Perez.....and stay there. A great drive."

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3. Posted by Anthony, 25/07/2022 9:10

"Great drive by George."

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Russell benefitted from Wolff's intervention

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