George Russell feels that his second career win at the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix has made up for the “missed opportunity” at the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix when he started from pole position.
Russell was running a good race for Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, and was in a comfortable position on the podium in third, although quite a way back from the two leaders of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
Norris closed in on Verstappen in the closing stages of the Grand Prix, looking like he was going to take the lead but after laps of close battling, it was clear that the three time world champion was not going to make it easier for a much quicker Norris to get past. After both going off the track multiple times, frustrations finally boiled over and contact was made between the two on Lap 64.
The incident caused significant damage to both of their cars. Norris was forced to retire from the race while Verstappen had to dive into the pits, filtering back out in fifth with a ten second time penalty. It wasn’t job done for Russell though, with Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz Jr. less than three seconds behind the Briton.
The former Williams Racing driver managed the race out in the lead really well though and led the remaining 7 laps to cross the line in the lead for just the second time in his Formula 1 career (his first win coming at the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix).
Speaking to F1TV, Russell spoke about the progress the team has made: “To be honest I was really happy with the race, P3 was going to be a great result for us.
“I knew Lando was pretty fired up after yesterday, I saw the battles up front and you’ve got to be there to pick up the pieces and that’s what we were and at the start of the year we were never there so the team have done an amazing job, improving the car. I’m really proud to be on the top step.”
Russell thinks the win makes up for missing out at the Canadian Grand Prix a few weeks ago. After securing pole position, Russell was unable to convert it into victory despite having the upper-hand on Verstappen and Norris throughout the week.
He added: “It’s huge for us. I think we had such a great opportunity in Canada, I feel like that was a missed opportunity for me and now this feels like we made up for that. It’s been a year and a half of so much hard work – this year starting on the back foot. Everyone came together and turned this around. Super happy and proud of everyone.”
