George Russell was anticipating a fight at the front of the grid in Albert Park for the 2023 Australian GP. However, his weekend turned into a nightmare, just a few laps into the race. Russell, who started P2 got off the line brilliantly, to jump Max Verstappen and take the lead of the race.
Russell was showing tremendous pace, but with his teammate Lewis Hamilton just behind him, who was being attacked by Verstappen, he was feeling anxious about losing his lead. The 25-year-old’s fortunes changed when William’s Alex Albon crashed and brought out the safety car.
Russell, who was on medium compound tyres was called into the Mercedes garage to fit in the hard tyres. Consequently, he lost a lot of places, but to make matters worse, the race was soon red-flagged. This meant that all the drivers in front of him who didn’t pit during when the safety car was out, would get a free stop.
Unfortunately for Russell, this wasn’t where his problems would end.
What happened to George Russell in Melbourne?
Russell lost a lot of places after the safety car and red flag, but he was showing a decent pace after the standing restart. Russell was making up places and was well within a shout of getting a podium finish.
Then, tragedy struck for the Brit. Russell appeared to be going slow heading into the final corner of the track, and soon, smoke could be seen pouring out of his engine. Russell had to park his car on the pit-lane exit, as the marshals brought extinguishers over to put out to the fire in the W14.
A dejected Russell, who was hoping to fight for the win in Melbourne, had to walk away without any points.
