“Gutted but incredibly proud of what we have achieved”- George Russel chins up after the disappointing defeat with Mercedes in Bahrain.
It was very rare when F1 fans wish to see Mercedes win a race, but for the first time in several years, a major section of fans devotedly prayed for George Russell’s maiden F1 win.
And the Briton driver was also set to accomplish it, but the fate had other plans, as a double pit stop after a mixed setup first made his withdraw his lead and go down 5th in the table, but still, he managed to get back to challenge Sergio Perez, who was at that time leading the race.
Gutted. Absolutely gutted.
It just wasn’t meant to be tonight but I’m proud of the job we did out there. We’ll get our opportunity again.
Congrats to @SChecoPerez. Nobody deserves a win more than him.
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) December 6, 2020
But things were never on Russell’s side and he faced a puncture in the next lap and had to pit immediately, now making him go down lowest in the order, from where there was no chance of recovery.
“Guys. I don’t know what to say. That was taken away from us twice. Honestly. It’s been a pleasure and I’ve loved it and honestly, I’m gutted. I’m absolutely gutted. But we’ll get this opportunity again. I hope we get this opportunity again. Thank you.”
“Can’t really explain it”- Gutted George Russell
Despite this Russell managed to gain the first points of his career, but what a sad way to register it. After the race, he was heard sobbing on the camera, while his race engineer consoled him.
Then it took Toto Wolff himself taking the mic of the radio and cheered up Russell that it was an incredible driver nevertheless. The Williams driver then went onto explain his disappointment further in a post-race interview.
“I can’t really put it into words, to be honest. Jumping out of the car… it wasn’t a nice feeling. I’ve had races where I’ve had victories taken away from me, but twice? I just couldn’t believe it. I gave it everything I had.
“I was managing the race at the start, I felt confident, comfortable, managing the gap to Valtteri. Then obviously we had the muddle up in the pit-stop, that put us on the back foot, I had to overtake.”
“I think we still could have caught Sergio, we had such a tyre advantage, the car was so quick. Gutted. But incredibly proud of what we have achieved and happy to have had the opportunity.”