George Russell made the whole F1 world get on the edge of their seat with his heroics in Barcelona. The 26-year-old made a daring lunge on the outside at the race start and took the lead starting from P4. The jaw-dropping move earned him a lot of plaudits and rightly so while he raised his stock in F1 by a few points. However, when presented with a better opportunity to outclass the same two individuals in the upcoming race in Austria, Russell revealed his different approach.
Russell qualified in P3 for the Austrian GP main race. He will start from the second row behind McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – the same two people he overtook in Barcelona. However, despite being in a better starting position on the Red Bull Ring, the Brit revealed he will be taking a calmer approach.
During the post-qualifying presser as seen on X, he said, “No, I think it’s a bit more challenging here. I think, you know, these guys always get their elbows out, so maybe this time it’s, you know, sit back and watch it all take place.”
TOM: So what about the start?… Around the outside, swooping into the lead at Turn 1 – is that the plan?
GR: *to Lando* What do you reckon?… pic.twitter.com/0Dc0DB73P9— h ⋆ (@russellius) June 29, 2024
Russell is taking this approach because, in Barcelona, he was easily overtaken by Verstappen for the lead after a few corners. He also lost a lot of time and tires battling with Norris for the P2 spot.
In fact, in the end, the Mercedes man finished where he started in P4 and could’ve fallen down the pecking order further. So, in Spielberg, Russell will be focusing on managing his race better and not taking an aggressive approach, because he has a trick up his sleeve.
George Russell reveals Mercedes has made changes to the W15 for the main race in Austria
George Russell has already confessed he won’t be fighting the superior McLaren and Red Bull machinery into turn 1 of the Austrian GP. He will sit back and relax and watch the race unfold in front of him.
The #63 driver also confessed majority of his focus will be on the race behind him so he can secure his place on the podium. However, F1 drivers are ambitious by nature. Owing to it, he revealed the team made changes to the car after the Sprint which might give him a surprise boost during the race.
As quoted by GP Blog, Russell said, “The gap to Max was bigger than we expected. We made a few changes with the car, which I think will help us tomorrow [Sunday].”
The 26-year-old also confessed this performance did not translate into qualifying because of the traffic in his last hot lap. However, the Mercedes man believes there’s a lot more in the car. He will surely try to extract every bit of it during the race. If not a sweeping move at the start, perhaps Russell will show some daring moves toward the end.
