George Russell defended his “bold” tyre strategies at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix, saying that his formation lap gamble to switch to slicks was “not a stupid decision.”
The Brit was hopeful of a good result in front of his home crowd at Silverstone, particularly having caused a minor surprise by qualifying in fourth, splitting one countrymen Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton.
But Russell was on the back foot pretty much immediately, opting to pit for slicks at the end of the formation lap, as the track, lavished by heavy pre-race rain, started to dry.
However, the track did not dry as quickly as many thought, and thus began a tricky afternoon for Russell, and the Mercedes team.
After the race, Toto Wolff described the call as “terribly wrong,” but Russell defended the choice, placing its failure on the Virtual Safety Car’s appearance.
“I think pitting at the beginning was not a stupid decision because it was dry for 25 minutes,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“What we didn’t know is it would be 15 minutes of Virtual Safety Car. When the Virtual Safety Car ended, we had five seconds pace advantage on the guys on the inters.
“If only we had the whole stint of this, maybe we would have got back into the lead. When it rains, it pours and everything just went against us.”
Russell admits ‘brave’ choices backfired
Russell then pitted to slicks later in the race after more rain that came during the proceedings, which Wolff described as a “contrarian” attempt to get past Pierre Gasly, whom he was stuck behind.
Russell again defended the choices that were made, but acknowledged that, in hindsight, a more logical strategy over and above a risky one would have yielded a better finishing position.
“In our position, if you play it safe, you’ll come home with a safe result,” he said.
“Of course, that would have probably been P4. Standing here now, do I wish I had P4? Of course. We wanted to be bold, we wanted to be brave.
“We went for some bold decisions and ultimately it bit us. Was it a bit of fun at times? Not really. It’s fun when you’re in a good place.
“I felt really strong at the beginning on the dry tyres. I was lapping a few seconds faster than the drivers on the slicks, lapping much quicker than the guys on the Inters, but everything went against us.”
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