George Russell reveals radio tip-off about Max Verstappen vs Lando Norris scrap

"My engineer said three la♊ps before, 'they’re fighting really hard'"

Race winner George Russell (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates with the team after the race. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd
Race winner George Russell (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates with the team after the race…

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell was told via team radio that he could win the F1 Austria💙n Grand Prix, before Lando Norris’ early retirement.

McLar🤡en’s Norris was vying for victory but his ra🎃ce ended early after contact with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

That controversial incident opened the door for💛 Mercedes’𝓰 Russell to convert into his second F1 grand prix victory.

“I was just trying to focus o♕n just maximising my driving, to be honest,” Russell said about Verstappen and Norris eventua🎀lly coming into view ahead of him.

“Marcus, my engi🌼neer, said three laps before, 'they’re fighting really hard and we can win this'.

“And ♐I said, look, we need to sort of secure P3 first, let me drive. And I knew Oscar was fast behind.

“And then when I got into the lead, ♔I knew it was going to be a challenging last six laps.

“Myꦓ tyres were difficult. That VSC helped marginally because my tyres were overheating and that just allowed me to co🐼ol them down.

“𝔍But it’s a bit of a strange one to win a race like this, for sure. But as I said, it’s racing. Sometim💃es it goes against you.

“I feel like we’ve probably missed ou⛦t on one or two possibilities of victories.

“Montreal was won, argu💝ably Singapore, things could have gone very slightly differently last year and today it went for us. So it’s how the cookie crumbles.”

Russell still needed to hold off ⛦the challenge of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to ensure he won at the Red Bull Ring.

“I thought he was going to catch, 🌳to be honest,” Russell admitted.

“But I ♐think catching is one thing, ꧑overtaking is another.

“So I hadꦕ Carlos behind me for 10 laps yesterday in my DRS and I was also behind Carlos for about eight laps in his DRS and overtaking wasn’t𝓀 straightforward.

“So I knew, I just sort of said to 🐻myself, do what you do best, no heroics and you’ll win t🔯his race.”

George Russell reacts to offset strategy

Russell said about the final laps with Verstappen and Norris no longer in the mix: “I think the difficulty was we were approaching a lot of backmarkers and we ওwere interacting a lot w꧂ith them.

“And if you get fortunate 🌠with the position, you get the DRS turn one and then into turn three and into turn four and you can gain six tenths👍.

“If you’re unfortunate, you could maybe lose six tenths. So you could have a 1.2 second difference just on where you c🌺atch the back markers.

"And when there was only two seconds between Oscar and I, that was probably the most ner🌞ve-wrac🔯king.”

Russell hailed his 🍒win as the best stꦿrategically that Mercedes have delivered for him all season.

“Yeah, without doubt. I think we really🧜 executed everything really well,” he said.

“I think every session we maximised, qualified as high as we thiꦍnk was truly possible.

“Race starts have been good. P4 in the race yesterday was the maximum. P3, rea♕listically, was the maximum and the deserving result today.

“You know, the team did a𝐆 great job, so it’s nice when you get a reward for all that hard work.”

Russell was offset strategically and ran a medium tyre in the middle of the grand prix❀. He was asked if it aided him against Piastri in the closing stages.

“I don’t think it helped at all, to be ꦏhonest,” he answered.

“I ꧃think it’s difficult. I think we split the strategies with Lewis just to try something.

“You never know hꦏow the r🎃ace is going to pan out, and, you know, VSC safety cars have a big factor.

“That VSC at the end was quite handy for me. It allowed me to cool my tyres down, and then my pace against Oscar ♑the last five laps was the same when he had the mediuꦉm.

“So, you know, the car’s been feeling really good. We know we’ve got a little bit of work still to do if we want to consistently be in that fight for the podium, but looking at the steps we’ve made versus Ferrari, versus Aston Martin, it💯’s been pretty huge since Bahrainꦓ.”

Russell added about his path to victory: “It was very windy out there, and I think the car was fee🐭ling a little bit strange on my laps to the grid.

“We 💃checked everything, and everything was fine, but the pace felt strong.

“I had, you know, Lewis attack me early 𝔉in the race, but then once I got back past him, I got🅠 a bit of a gap to Carlos.

“I k🎃new Oscar was going to be quick, and he sort of came a little bi🍷t out of nowhere towards the end of the race. 

“On those hard tyres for me was pretty difficult, and then suddenly I had Toto screaming in my ear, you know, you can🐲 win this, and almost crashed when he screamed✨ into my ears it was that loud, but I think it just goes to show the passion that we all share, and, you know, it’s obviously been a tough couple of years for us. You know, it feels great to be back on the top step.”

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