Lewis Hamilton played hidden role in George Russell success at Canadian Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton was frustrated after the Canadian Grand Prix, but he played the team-mate role perfectly for George Russell.
George Russell has revealed that he used Lewis Hamilton’s data from the practice sessions at the Canadian Grand Prix to influence his approach to qualifying. The 26-year-old went on to secure pole position ahead of Max Verstappen and eventually converted this into a third-place finish.
During the third practice session, Hamilton marked himself out as the one to watch in qualifying, punching in a lap that was nearly four-tenths of a second faster than Verstappen and Russell in second and third respectively.
Unfortunately for the seven-time world champion, he was unable to translate this into a strong qualifying result. Hamilton struggled on his final Q3 run, ending the session in seventh while his team-mate claimed a second career pole position.
Related articles
Explaining Hamilton’s role in his qualifying success, Russell said: “This morning (Saturday) Lewis was absolutely flying and he was well ahead of me. I had to look a lot into his data to try to understand what he was doing differently. And, to be honest, that helped me a huge amount.
“So ahead of this qualifying, I'm just so glad that we could pull it off because I feel like we really deserve all of this hard work we've been putting in, and the car has been feeling awesome this weekend.”
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
Russell was in a buoyant mood after securing pole position, but his attitude was very different when questioned after the race. The Brit lost out to both Verstappen and Lando Norris after making a handful of sloppy errors.
"It felt like a missed opportunity,” he said. “We were really quick on the inters at the beginning, then Lando came through. Then we jumped back on the slicks. I made a couple of mistakes out there, pushing the limits and paid the price for it.”
More F1...
Sergio Perez issues apology to Red Bull as disastrous run continues in Canada [LATEST]
Canadian GP stewards make decision on punishing Sergio Perez after the race [VERDICT]
Esteban Ocon attacks Alpine over team radio as request rejected at Canadian GP [DRAMA]
His team-mate was even more agitated. Hamilton snatched the final podium-paying position from Russell in the closing laps but was passed the next time by, capping off a frustrating weekend that has mirrored the tale of his season to date.
“It was just, over the weekend, a really poor performance from myself,” he said. “Yesterday… some other things came into it yesterday, but mostly myself, and then today, one of the worst races I have ever driven. Just lots of mistakes. But obviously, if I had qualified better, I would have been in a better position.”
