20/05/2024
NEWS STORY
The call to make a late second stop didn't go down too well with George Russell, but he insists that he isn't going to sulk about it.
The Briton had led his Mercedes teammate from the start, only losing position when he pitted on Lap 21. However, when Lewis Hamilton pitted six laps later he rejoined in ninth, with Russell now in seventh.
When Lance Stroll finally pitted on Lap 37, Hamilton moved up to seventh where he looked set to stay for the remainder of the afternoon, however on Lap 52 Russell was told to pit.
Needless to say he wasn't happy because this meant losing position to his teammate.
"Our wear forecasts showed that he may struggle to make it last to the end of the race on the hard tyre," explained Toto Wolff at race end. "His lap times were getting slower and slower, the forecast was three or four laps short to make it.
"We didn't want to lose the position to Perez, so that was the call," he added. "We had the opportunity to pit and get out ahead of Perez, and therefore opted to stop him. We wanted to keep the Red Bull behind, it was a safety call.
"That also enabled us to go for the fastest lap point. It cost George a place to Lewis but ultimately the team was able to score an additional point. Lewis would have probably taken him, anyway," insisted the Austrian, due to Russell's tyre wear.
"As a driver, you want to finish the highest position possible and all weekend I'd been ahead of my team-mate," said Russell. "I was ahead the whole race comfortably. That was sort of just losing the position for the sake of it... I lost my position to Lewis but I'm not going to sulk over losing a P6, to be honest.
"You are never going to be happy with a P6 and a P7," he added, "but at the end of the day, as a team, we scored an extra point.
"This is where we are now," he continued. "A little bit in no man's land behind the Ferraris and the McLarens, and ahead of the midfield. We've just got to keep pushing.
"This weekend we maximised it: the car was capable of P6 and P7, that's where we qualified and that's where we finished.
"Everyone is staying super motivated,, the morale isn't dropping at all. It's really quite inspiring to see. Everyone is trying to make this work, and improve it. Everyone in Brackley and Brixworth are working at full gas right now."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Imola here.