George Russell has defended his overtake attempt on Sergio Perez after trying to move ahead of the Red Bull driver late on at the French Grand Prix.
Russell was hunting Perez for third place and made an overtake attempt at Turn 8, which resulted in minor contact for both drivers.
Perez took to the escape road and held onto the position, however Russell protested over the team radio that he should be handed the position as he felt Perez gained an advantage.
The Stewards looked into the incident, but opted to take no action.
“It was pretty entertaining from those last final 15-20 laps, pushing as hard as I could to stay within reach, and then you know, do the overtake on Checo,” Russell said.
“I was pretty disappointed not to be able to keep that position. I thought it was my corner, I was down the inside I had my front wheels in front of his rear wheels.
“And to the letter of the law, it was my corner and he squeezed me a bit onto the kerb. He went wide and kept his position.
“So, I guess we’ll talk about it after but nevertheless, you know, these things have a way of working themselves out.”
Russell ended up moving ahead of Perez by timing a Virtual Safety Car restart well, and took his fourth podium position of the 2022 season.
Speaking about his overtake, Russell said: “It felt pretty straightforward to be honest!
“I just gunned it when the lights went green, and got the run on him and went around the outside at Turn 14.
“You sometimes have to try and pre-empt it a little bit. And I think when you’re on the race on your own, you’re just playing it safe and you’re leaving a little bit of margin.
“I just got a really nice run, timed it perfectly. I think he had to brake a little bit as maybe he was a bit too quick.
“So, with him braking ,with myself accelerating, it just gave us that closing speed. It was pretty sweet but those laps after weren’t easy.”
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