George Russell said he has no hard feelings about finishing behind his team mate Lewis Hamilton in today’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after making an extra pit stop.
Hamilton and Russell finished sixth and seventh respectively in the race at Imola, with Hamilton 35 seconds adrift of race winner Max Verstappenand second placed Lando Norris.
Russell had spent the entire race ahead of his team mate until he was brought in for a second pit stop with 14 laps remaining to switch onto the medium tyre compound. While this allowed him gain the bonus point for fastest lap, it meant he finished the race behind Hamilton, so while Mercedes scored an extra point Russell lost one compared to his team mate.
Wolff later explained that the decision to pit Russell was as much a strategic one to defend against Sergio Perez behind as it was to try and gain the fastest lap point.
“His lap times were getting slower and slower,” Wolff told Sky. “Our wear forecasts at that time were saying ‘he’s not going to make it to the end’ and we didn’t want to lose the position to Perez. So that was the call.”
Russell said he was not too upset with finishing behind his team mate despite being ahead across the weekend.
“You’re never going to be happy with a P6 and a P7,” he said. “At the end of the day, as a team, we scored one extra point.
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“I lost my position to Lewis, but I’m not going to sulk over losing a P6, to be honest. This is where we are right now – a little bit in no-mans’ land behind the Ferraris and McLarens and ahead of the midfield.”
Despite finishing as the clear fourth best team at Imola, Wolff said he was sure his team were heading in the right direction.
“You can’t see it on the result that we’re making steps in where we want the car to be,” Wolff said. “We are 30-plus seconds off the quickest guys and that is a lot. P6 and P7 is nothing to be proud of.”
Asked if he feels Mercedes will have a better chance to fight closer to their rivals next weekend in Monaco, Russell said he does not expect a significant change in the team’s relative performance.
“I don’t think the grid is going to be shuffled up too much, to be honest,” he said.
“It’s pretty impressive to see what McLaren are doing right now. They were the slowest 12 months ago and now they’re the quickest, arguably – so it shows what’s possible when you find that silver bullet. But I expect us to be in a similar…
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