George Russell's first podium finish for Mercedes was a result of classy, fault-free driving on the Briton's part and reliability from the Silver Arrows, according to former F1 driver Martin Brundle.
Now a television pundit, Brundle had plenty of praise for George Russell after the Briton held on to claim P3 at the 2022 F1 Australian GP. In his column for Sky Sports F1, the veteran commentator wrote:
“George Russell got lucky with the Safety Car, but you need to be competitive before and after that to benefit and he certainly was. He doesn’t appear to be struggling to keep with Lewis [Hamilton] in qualifying or race trim and that’s impressive against the great man. George is second in the Drivers’ Championship due to classy, fault-free driving and reliability. Now he needs the car performance to take a decent step forward in a hurry. Lewis was disappointed in fourth, struggling with an overheating engine, but the team must have been pleased they used their tires better than Red Bull in the first half of the race. The whole Mercedes team are definitely applying ‘damage limitation’ extremely well.”
In the process, Russell outscored his illustrious teammate for the second successive race and is now the leading driver in the pack behind championship leader Charles Leclerc.
"We got a little bit lucky" - George Russell after maiden Mercedes podium in Melbourne
George Russell was quick to admit that fortune played a sizeable role in him claiming the final podium spot at the 2022 F1 Australian GP.
During his post-race interview with former F1 driver Mark Webber, the 24-year-old discussed capitalizing on Max Verstappen's bad luck en route to his P3 finish, saying:
“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we’ve got to be in it to win it and capitalize from others’ misfortunes and obviously, we got a little bit lucky today, probably twice, but you know, we’ll take it and there’s so much hard work going on back at Brackley and Brixworth to try and get it back to the front so to be standing on the podium is special.”
Mercedes are expected to bring an update to their W13 in time for the next race of the season, the Emilia Romagna GP in Imola. It could help Russell and Hamilton find the competitiveness they've been seeking in the first three races of the season.
Also Check Out :-F1 Standings 2022