Naomi Schiff Argues George Russell Made ‘Too Many Mistakes’ to Lose His First Win in 2 Years

For most of the 2024 Canadian GP weekend, the Mercedes W15 was surprisingly the fastest car on the track. George Russell made the most of it and claimed the pole position for the race. However, the Brit finished third in the race despite a good start and maintaining his starting position through the opening lap. Following Russell’s failure to win, F1 journalist and former racer Naomi Schiff believes he has only himself to blame. On the latest episode of the Sky Sports F1 YouTube podcast, she said,

“I think unfortunately, for George, whether or not the win was on, he made one too many mistakes. And as a driver, particularly when you think that there is an opportunity to win, and you make a mistake yourself, you’re going to be really hard on yourself, because it’s an incredible opportunity that’s now lost“.

Lando Norris overtook George Russell for the lead around lap 21. While defending against the McLaren man, Russell ran off track around the wall of champions.

In doing so, the Mercedes driver lost a position to Max Verstappen as well and ran in third. Towards the end of the race then, Russell was also overtaken by his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

However, the 26-year-old fought back and grabbed the final podium spot. Since Russell failed to win his first race in 2024, he was disappointed with himself. Similarly to Russell, even Hamilton was disappointed with his own weekend.

Lewis Hamilton makes a dejected admission about the results of the Canadian GP

Hamilton admitted he had one of the worst races of his career at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Although the seven-time champion blamed himself for his struggles, the fans attributed his poor outing to a less favorable strategy for him compared to Russell. This scenario also added to the ongoing suggestions of favoritism toward Russell.

However, it is pertinent to note that Hamilton’s performances have indeed been incredibly poor, especially on Saturdays compared to Russell’s. In fact, Hamilton’s own admission that he will not be able to beat the 26-year-old this season in qualifying has raised more questions than answers.