George Russell admits losing a likely victory not once but twice “really bloody hurt” on his Mercedes debut in Bahrain.
Standing in for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton after his positive Covid-19 test, the Briton looked immediately at home at the Brackley-based team.
In the race, Russell would take the lead from Valtteri Bottas at the start and held it comfortably until a tyre mix-up at a reactionary pit-stop during the second Safety Car saw his race start to unravel.
Forced to pit again for the right tyres, George would quickly work his way back up to second, including passing the sister Mercedes, only for a puncture to eliminate any chances of a remarkable win.
“I’ve had races where I’ve had victories taken away from me, but twice, I couldn’t believe it,” said Russell.
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“I couldn’t believe what was happening. I drove my heart out, I had the race under control, especially in the beginning, and then obviously the safety car came out, which was annoying.
“But I felt comfortable. I put some good overtakes, I was fired up, I was ready to chase Sergio to get the win back, and it would have been tight, but we would have done it.
“And then it went away from us again. So that’s racing.”
Later, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who described the pit-stop debacle as a “colossal f**k up”, explained a radio failure meant Russell’s side of the garage didn’t react to the call to bring out his tyres until it was too late.
That error then also impacted Bottas as, when the mistake was realised, pit crews had to refit the hard compound onto the Finn’s car which he had taken at the first pit-stop, costing him almost 30 seconds.
The older tyres also left Bottas at the mercy of those behind him, as he slipped back to an eventual eighth-place finish, while a late charge saw Russell recover to ninth.
“If you’d told me at the start of this weekend I would have scored some points, I’d have said right, that’s going to be a pretty fantastic weekend!” the Williams driver smiled.
“But if you’d told me I’d be leading the race, and then ended up… argh… I don’t know.
“It really hurt, honestly, it really bloody hurt when I got out of the car.”
With Hamilton seemingly on the path to recovery, it’s unknown if Russell will get a second chance at Mercedes at this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
However, reflecting on his dramatic first outing, the 22-year-old focused on the positives.
“At some point, it just felt too good to be true,” he told reporters after the Sakhir Grand Prix, as quoted by RaceFans.
“This whole situation, getting this opportunity and coming in and qualifying second, almost on pole.
“But I need to leave with my head held high, regardless of the result. I could have been off the pace but fluked into a podium [and] even though it’s a podium, I wouldn’t have probably been as satisfied as I am right here, right now.
“That’s because I know that it was a well-executed weekend. Between me and my core group of engineers on the performance side, we did as much as we can. And even yesterday, I wanted to be on pole, but given the timeframe, given the car still wasn’t set up right for me, given the fact I wasn’t comfortable in the car, I was satisfied with it because I was closer than I expected.
“I know that with more and more races under my belt in this car, I’ll just get stronger. So to come in at such a good level. I’m going to wake up tomorrow, obviously still disappointed, but I’ll try and have my head held high.”