Mercedes George Russell was in high spirits after securing his third Grand Prix victory at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, leading a Mercedes one-two in the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, lauding the one-stop strategy that guided him to it, but the Briton now faces an investigation into the legality of his win.
Post-race scrutineering found Russell’s Mercedes to be underweight, a matter that has now been escalated to the race stewards, but prior to that revelation, Russell sat centre stage in the post-race press conference.
The run to his at-risk victory was enabled by the call to stick to a one-stop, at odds with his competitors, but the right call by the end of the race.
Russell nursed his hard tyres from Lap 11 through to 44, holding Lewis Hamilton at bay in the final few laps to cross the start/finish line in first place.
“We spoke so much this morning about the two-stop, the three-stop,” Russell said.
“Suddenly, the tyres, the car felt really, really good. I got into this groove, and especially when I got into the lead, there was no backmarkers in front, no other cars in front, and it kind of felt like driving a simulator.
“It was quite weird, and I was looking at the gap to Lewis, and the rate he was catching me, and I just thought, there’s no reason why we can’t stay out here and do this one-stop, and try and make it work.”
With nobody making the call to one-stop, Russell’s decision was do or die, one that could have backfired and seen him drop down the field and potentially out of podium contention.
The Mercedes driver said that discussing whether to take the gamble with his team “was quite back and forth over the course of three laps,” but ultimately it came down to instinct.
“I think it’s difficult,” Russell said.
“Because when you feel something in your gut, you have to go with it, but when every single driver and team is pitting to go on to a different alternative strategy, and after all the data we had on Friday suggested a one-stop was not even close to being viable, you kind of question that a couple of times, thinking, ‘are we missing something here? Why isn’t anybody else doing this?’
“I just sort of felt at one with the tyres, and I managed it a little bit at the beginning, and I knew that would give me a bit of money back at the end.
“I think it sometimes goes to show, we’ve got so many sensors and data points on the car, but there’s only 20 of us driving these F1 cars, and sometimes you feel it. You can feel how the tyre is sliding over the track, and you’ve just got to trust your gut sometimes.”
Russell’s race was well run and more so, well won, but his jubilation could be short-lived as he and the likes of Hamilton, third-placed Oscar Piastri and fourth-placed Charles Leclerc, await the race stewards’ verdict.
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