Starting from P2, Mercedes’ George Russell lost two places as he finished the race at P4 after being harshly overtaken by Lewis Hamilton at Turn 3 during the Mexican GP. But the young Briton has no hard feelings after being shown the outside line by his teammate.
Russell admitted that for the past four races his move into Turn 1 has been pretty scrappy. Therefore, at the Mexico City GP as well he knew right at the lights out that he won’t be able to overtake Max Verstappen.
So when he had Hamilton in his rearview chasing him down Turn 3 and showing him the outside line he let it be. Russell said that if it had been anyone other than Hamilton, he would have run them off the road.
Also Read: Sergio Perez stops Mexican fans from booing Lewis Hamilton during post-race interview
George Russell thinks Pirelli went a bit too hard with the tyre range
Mercedes’ tyre strategy did not go well at the Mexican GP and both the drivers were left thinking about the outcomes if only a few things had been correct.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen cruised to victory at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez followed by Lewis Hamilton in P2 and Sergio Perez in P3.
We didn’t nail the race today but good points in the bag for the team and definitely our best weekend for a while pace-wise. ¡Gracias México! pic.twitter.com/er2kZ218Hk
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) October 30, 2022
Both the Mercedes drivers ran the race on hard tyres while they saw their rivals either extend their medium tyres or pit for soft tyres.
After looking around the grid and how others worked on the tyre strategy, Russell was left thinking that what would the outcome have been if only he had stayed on mediums for longer and then pitted for softs at the end, similar to what Daniel Ricciardo did.
The young British driver also felt that Pirelli went a bit too hard with their tyre range at the Mexican GP track.
Also Read: Lewis Hamilton explains why he dissed former teammate Fernando Alonso
Mercedes is confident of taking another shot at Ferrari
Stepping towards the second-last race of the season in Brazil, the Brackley-based team is quite confident of taking another shot at Ferrari as it stands only 40 points behind the Scuderia in P2 in the constructors’ championship.
Russell said that in the past two races the team has shown that they have become stronger than they were when the season started.
So heading into Brazil, it’d be hard to beat the Red Bull F1 team but Ferrari can definitely be battled with.
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