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A fairytale victory for George Russell in his Mercedes debut slipped through his fingers in an agonizing way, but there was no mistaking the power of the message he sent at the Sakhir Grand Prix.
Replacing Lewis Hamilton after the world champion contracted the coronavirus, the 22-year-old Briton stood out from the moment he took to the track in Bahrain, and would have won had it not been for a strange confusion in the pit lane of the normally impeccable Mercedes team.
Even after that demoted him to fifth place, he could still have made it, only for a puncture that interrupted his search for Sergio Perez of Racing Point, who took a brilliant first win.
Pain was etched all over Russell’s face afterward, but there was also satisfaction, and he said he would wake up Monday morning with his “head held high.”
He was “gutted” from losing the victory twice, he said, and had “cried a little” but was also “incredibly proud” of the job he had done and had “loved” running up front, including the “nice” . In overtaking he pulled his teammate Valtteri Bottas as he tried to make up the places he had lost in his pit stop.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who risked negotiating Russell’s release from his Williams team for this race, was more than satisfied.
Wolff said: “It has all the potential and all the ingredients that a future star needs.”
Exceeding your own expectations
The quality of Russell’s performance needs a bit of context, for those tempted to think that it was simply proof that the Mercedes is the best car and anyone can win in it.
It’s the best car, and many drivers could do it, but that’s not really the point.
Russell had two days to prepare to drive the Mercedes. The car did not suit him. He’s five inches (14cm) taller than Hamilton, he had to wear boots that were one size too small to fit his 11ft size in the cockpit and operate the pedals, he needed ice on the bruises at the end of each day in the car, and he was using Hamilton’s gearshift and clutch paddles, which were too small for his fingers.
And yet he qualified just 0.026 seconds behind Bottas, who has been driving the car all year, beat the Finn and led the race with authority until a radio failure led to Bottas’ front tires settling in. Russell’s car at a pit stop under a safe car.
“To be honest,” Russell said, “I believe in myself, but I was being realistic. I wasn’t expecting to keep up with Valtteri.”
“I thought if I was within 0.2 seconds I would be really satisfied with that because I know how much pace I have had with Williams and how I have become stronger and stronger by understanding the car and my engineers understanding how to set up the car for me. And progress. I’ve accomplished since Australia 2019 has been by leaps and bounds.
“I’ve been on a good wave the last few races and I thought I could come in and do a good job, but I thought 0.2 seconds would be a good result and it would be fair. He’s been in this car for 16 races in a row. I’m very proud of the work we have been able to accomplish. “
‘George is someone to count on for the future’
Russell paid tribute to Hamilton race engineer Peter Bonnington and the team around him for ‘getting me there’, adding: ‘Midway through the race I had an eight second lead over Valtteri and I thought,’ this is too much good to be true. ‘ And it turned out that it was too good to be true.
“It would have been a fairy tale to get the victory. We deserved it today. It was a very well executed race and a small mistake changed the whole dynamic.”
“I feel sorry for George,” Wolff said. “We didn’t want to set high expectations, but he overdelivered and overdelivered and overdelivered.
“His race was incredible, he came off the starting line with the best reaction time in a car that is not made for him in a car that is too small, with paddles that do not fit his hands and got on the lead and he drove a brilliant career, and could have won twice.
“So this is not a sad day. It is a day that we learn as a team. When we are in a tough fight in the championship, I don’t want the radio to fail. And we learned that George Russell is someone to count on. future “.
A bad weekend for Bottas
It seems inevitable after this that Russell’s future will surely be at Mercedes in no time. In that sense, if this was a good weekend for Russell, it was bad for Bottas.
In fairness to the Finn, he was returning to Russell as the second run of the race was taking place, before the safety car that caused the Mercedes pit error, but then he had the air of a man who knows time is running out. . .
Bottas has a contract for next year, but no further, and many people saw this race as a showdown between him and Russell for a seat alongside Hamilton in 2022, even if Wolff denied it was such a thing.
Bottas said, “Sure, if you don’t know things, he might have seemed like a complete fool and that’s not nice. It will be very easy for people to say that. A new guy who comes in and leads the guy who’s been on the team for years.
“People who know know the performance and how the end result could have been. [But] it’s not an ideal weekend. “
When asked about that decision for 2022, Wolff insisted: “To be honest, I haven’t decided now what that means for us.”
And he gave an intriguing answer to a question about whether there was any chance that Russell could be listed alongside Hamilton next year.
“He’s a Williams driver and our driver lineup is Valtteri and Lewis, so I don’t see it being a realistic situation at the moment,” Wolff said, “but I can understand that it would be an interesting situation. Both in the team and maybe. a little crazy for all of us and maybe we will have it in the future. “
Even Russell seemed to suggest that the idea of him at Mercedes in 2021 was not completely off the table.
“Hopefully it gave Toto a headache not just for 2022, maybe sooner,” he said.
Hamilton’s question
The immediate question of what will happen by the season finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend is clearer.
If Hamilton has recovered from Covid and tests negative, he will be in the car. If not, it will be Russell again.
Hamilton doesn’t have a contract for 2021 yet, but Wolff said Russell’s stellar performance would have nothing to do with those negotiations.
“They are two different things,” Wolff said. “We have had great success with Lewis. He is a member of the team and none of the events this weekend will interfere or change our negotiations.
“It wouldn’t be fair against him or us because it could have been the other way around. It could have been a racing weekend where George hadn’t been on pace and I don’t think he would say, ‘Well, wait a minute, this is a advantage for me. Our relationship goes way beyond that. “
And Wolff doesn’t pay much attention to those unfamiliar with F1 who might say that Russell’s performance is an indication that Hamilton has been so successful just because he’s in the best car.
“Lewis Hamilton wins a lot because he is the best driver in the best car right now,” said Wolff, “and we are very humble about it because it is not a given that we provide him with the best car and that is why we have a positive influence when the car runs well to be part of its success and we have a negative influence when the car malfunctions.
“It is never one. It is never the driver that makes the difference and it is never the car that makes the difference. It’s the combination.
“Lewis continues to be the benchmark. He is the best driver there is. He has proven it with his multiple records and we must not get carried away at this stage by a phenomenal drive from a new kid who has a bright future in F1.” “
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