The French Grand Prix gave great emotions up to the last corner in the fight for the podium, on which George Russell climbed with great merit.
Very consistent race that of the British, protagonist of a wheel to wheel duel against Sergio Pérez resolved with the third place won with a knife between his teeth by the Mercedes driver.
From the start, the W13 did not have the same pace as Red Bull and Ferrari, but after Charles Leclerc left the scene, things changed, especially for the two aforementioned.
Carlos Sainz Jr. quickly got up from the rear, but after passing them he had to stop to serve a 5 “penalty and change the tires to get to the end without risking.
George Russell, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Pérez and Russell had already started a battle that also sent a shiver down the back of both, when at the chicane on the ‘Mistral’ straight the Englishman threw himself inside the RB18, which closed the door to the ‘last; the contact forced Pérez to cut the variant, returning to hold the position.
Russell complained about the episode, but the race management felt there was no where to intervene, so the third place George had to sweat it out and take to the track.
In the last 5 laps, a Virtual Safety Car forced everyone to lift their foot and here the golden opportunity for him materialized, because at the restart Pérez hesitated, being pulled out by the opponent.
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, 3rd position
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“It was a very hard race, I sweated a lot and I’m very tired, but we had a good pace, even if after the restart from the VSC I was struggling to warm up the tires well”, reveals Russell at the end of the race.
“I passed Checo, but he was on me until the end. It was a good battle and I’m happy to have finished third.”
On paper it did not seem that Mercedes could put a spoke in the wheel at Red Bull, but while Lewis Hamilton limited himself to holding a very precious place of honor having no way of reaching Max Verstappen, Russell with Pérez managed to fight, also with rotated as mentioned above.
“I had a great pace, when Sainz overtook us the opportunity to fight with Pérez opened up, I saw he was suffering.”
“In my opinion, what happened at the chicane was clear, I was on the inside and he didn’t leave me room. The rules are clear.”
“Anyway, I kept pushing and I was able to give Mercedes the podium, which is nice because Lewis is with me too.”
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