George Russell demands 'serious conversations' as Mercedes ace fuming at Azerbaijan GP
George Russell scored an impressive result in Baku but was furious when he stepped out of the cockpit.
George Russell has demanded 'serious conversations' about the performance of F1's Pirelli tyres after labelling his experience on the Italian manufacturer's rubber as 'infuriating' in Baku.
The Brit was the main benefactor of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz's contact on the penultimate lap, jumping up from fifth to third to claim an unexpected podium finish.
However, despite the positive result, Russell had a bone to pick. “It was such an odd race," he said. "The first half of the race, we were 1.5 seconds off the pace. [In] the last 20 laps, I was a second quicker than Oscar and Charles and three-tenths quicker than Max, Checo and Carlos.
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“It’s the same circuit, same driver, same car – we just went from a yellow tyre to a white tyre. Honestly, it is actually pretty infuriating that it changes this much. It’s not just the Mercedes, it’s every team and every driver. One session, you’re fast, the next you’re not. And there’s only one thing that changes.”
Russell continued his rant, pointing fingers at Pirelli. He fumed: "I think even the people who make the tyres don’t understand the tyre. I think we all need probably serious conversations again about what’s going on, because we’ve got 2,000 people working their butts off to deliver the fastest car.
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"Twenty laps of the race, we had a car that was comfortable of fighting for victory, the twenty other laps, we had a car that probably shouldn’t have been in the points – and the only difference is the tyres. And it’s not good enough, really.”
While Russell's frustrations over the tyres were understandable, the Brit can still look back on a well-earned podium with significant implications in the Drivers' Championship standings.
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His third-place finish combined with an unfortunate DNF for Sergio Perez - who was running P4 at the time of his crash - means that the the Brit has moved above the Red Bull driver into P7 in the Drivers' Championship.
Red Bull were the real losers from the Azerbaijan GP. After heading into the weekend with an eight-point lead in the Constructors' Championship, they now travel to Singapore 20 points behind McLaren, thanks to a stellar Oscar Piastri victory.
