George Russell was downcast after the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, in which he finished fifth, summarising his race as “worse than I even could imagine.”
Despite the top-six finish, it was a wretched race for Russell, who, along with Liam Lawson, just about stayed on the same lap as winner Lando Norris, crossing the line a whole minute behind the McLaren driver, and half a minute behind former team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
It was a complete contrast from the smiles and triumph of Canada two weeks previously, in which Russell commanded the race to take victory.
But the high temperatures that glowed upon the Red Bull Ring were always going to cause problems for the W16 car, which has been noted as uneasy in its management of tyres in the heat.
This, combined with the coarser surface on the Spielberg circuit, provided a combination of reasons why Russell endured a torrid afternoon.
“This was a bit of a perfect storm,” he said. “The tarmac’s like one of the roughest of the season.
“Obviously, high-speed circuit, you’re going around the track many times. So, the most number of laps in the season and then 50 degrees track temp.
“So, it was sort of that perfect storm, really. I was expecting a bad race and it was worse than I even could imagine.
“The problem is so clear, coming off the back of Canada with the win, with no tyre overheating, we’re the quickest.
“But as soon as you get to a track where there’s a bit of overheating, we drop off so much.
“So, to be honest, the team have been working so hard for six months now to try and solve this issue.
“We’ve got ideas, but nothing that’s really, we’re not really making major headway right now.”
Russell ‘takes pride’ in ‘damage limitation’ job
Russell also carried the expectations of the Mercedes team fully on his shoulders this weekend, with team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli retiring on the opening lap after clouting Max Verstappen’s Red Bull at Turn 3.
Despite the disappointment in the car’s performance, Russell was happy that he and the team were able to make the best of the bad situation.
“For sure damage limitation, I think,” he acknowledged. “I still take pride in the fact that almost every race this year, we’re maximising the results.
“Today, P5, we definitely could not have achieved anything higher than P5.
“The same way as last week, the win was the potential, and we got the win. So, fingers crossed, it stays cloudy for the rest of the season.”
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