Watch: George Russell's spectacular drive through the field to secure a podium in the 2023 F1 Spanish GP

George Russell had a brilliant race in the 2023 F1 Spanish GP, where he took his first podium of this season by finishing third, behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton. Though he was unable to place himself in the top 10 positions in qualifying on Saturday, he compensated for that by having a great race where he started from P12 and ended up in third place.

George Russell started strong and overtook both Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly even before they hit the first turn of the circuit. Right after turn one, he had to take the escape road at the side of the track after being squeezed by Nico Hulkengberg, who had Oscar Piastri beside him on the outside of turn two. Though he did not gain a massive time advantage over the two, he overtook both of them before turn four.

At lap seven, Russell eventually went past Fernando Alonso, and at lap 11, he overtook Esteban Ocon to secure fifth position. After both Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz pitted in laps 15 and 16, both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell went up a place and raced in the podium positions before pitting for the first time.

On laps 28 and 35, Russell once again overtook Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz, respectively, this time on track. Though the Mercedes driver pitted on lap 46 for the last time, he managed to undercut Sergio Perez, who pitted after him, giving the third place back to the Briton. Russell then defended the podium place by driving as quickly as possible. Despite having one of the quickest cars on the grid, Sergio Perez was unable to catch the Mercedes driver.

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George Russell happy to finish in podium places in the Spanish GP

George Russell was delighted to stand on his first podium of 2023 in the Spanish GP. He stated how he was disappointed after Saturday's qualifying session, but he held his head high and drove brilliantly in the race. As quoted by F1.com, he said:

“We’ve always been strong in Barcelona but the upgrades worked as expected, which is really promising to see and thanks a huge amount to everybody who put so much effort into this because it’s truly paying off. I was very disappointed last night with the qualifying result but it’s proof that you just need to keep on believing and today was a new day, new opportunities, went out there, ticked all the boxes, the car was fast, good overtakes and really enjoyable race.”

George Russell currently stands in fifth place in the Driver Standings with 65 points. He is behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who is in fourth with 87 points.