George Russell scored his first podium finish for Mercedes yesterday and rose to the unexpected heights of second in the world championship.
However he insisted that wasn’t down to the performance of his car which has lagged behind Ferrari, Red Bull and occasionally others this year.
Russell said he was “pleasantly surprised” to leave the third round of the championship in second place behind runaway leader Charles Leclerc.
“It’s credit due to the team for giving us, so far, a very reliable car,” said Russell, who finished third in Melbourne after Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jnr retired. “We’ve got to be there at the end to capitalise from these results.”
He said his championship position was “definitely not based on pace” but shows they couldn’t have finished higher at any of the three races so far.
“It’s been a respectable start to the season in terms of how we’ve managed to optimise our lack of performance,” said Russell. “Every race we’ve…