Russell closely followed Leclerc for the first 18 laps of the race but was unable to pass him until the latter made his first stop.
Subsequently, Russell rejoined behind Leclerc after a rather slow pit stop, having driven an unusually long first stint on the soft tyres.
The two then started a short but spectacular duel, before Russell got the better of the Monegasque on the road that led him to the fifth place finish.
“I felt good on those tyres,” Russell said of his opening stint. “And it was 28 laps within one second of a car in front of me.”
“I think I could have stretched even more if there had been clean air. I felt really good with that tyre, and with our car.”
“I did my best to overtake Charles, with some questionable defense at times. But it wouldn’t have changed my race. If I could have overtaken him, I probably would have stopped even earlier.”
“Probably both McLarens would have come in to cover me. So I probably would have finished fifth.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
When asked by Motorsport.com to elaborate on Leclerc’s moves to defend himself, Russell said: “It was just braking into turn 16. I was about to sink on the inside and right in the braking zone he moved quite aggressive”.
“It’s clear the regulations don’t allow that. I think they’ve given him a scolding. But when you have an overtaking opportunity and he gets sort of a booking for it, it’s a bit frustrating.”
Russell said he has no intention of addressing the issue at the next drivers’ briefing.
“I don’t think I need to,” she noted: “It was very borderline. I need to review a video.”
“It looked borderline to me from inside the car, or maybe just above the limit. I haven’t seen the replay. I’m not too worried at the moment.”
Russell admitted he expected to be able to battle the McLarens in the latter part of the race, when he was on the medium tire and Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had made a surprise switch to the hards.
“I thought it would be all clear, Lewis (Hamilton) and I P2 and P3, and see you later,” he said.
“But I couldn’t believe they put those tires on and were able to make them work. Maybe if they put the softs on their car, they wouldn’t work as well as ours.”
“And likewise, if we had fitted the hard ones, it probably wouldn’t have worked like they did on their car.”
“But yes, for me the medium/hard strategy was decidedly wrong. The soft was definitely the best tyre. And they had an advantage of a tenth and a half, two tenths over us.”
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