In the Hungarian Grand Prix, George Russell finished the race in third position after starting from pole position. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton came back from seventh to finish second, delighting the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. Hamilton easily went past Russell to take second and try and chase down Max Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz Jr. was putting an immense amount of pressure on Russell whilst also being under pressure from Sergio Pérez himself. There were 1.109 seconds between them and 2.242 seconds between Sainz and Russell.
Russell said, “I had a really strong start, and it was a first good stint. We pitted quite early on both stints and tried to keep the tyres out until the end, as well as pushing as fast as possible at the same time”.
“Towards the end on the mediums when the rain started to come down, I struggled and lost temperature. It was challenging to manage the tyres, so there’s lots to look into and see where we could’ve done better“, he continued.
“Amazing job by the team, pole position yesterday and double podium today. We’re making progress and I’m proud of the work everybody has put into it. We will come back to the second half of the season with a reset, refocussed and will try to fight for some victories.”
“I was struggling at the beginning of the race” – Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton secured the bonus point for the fastest lap, at 1:21.386. By the end of the race, he was 7.834s behind Verstappen and catching, having stormed the pack after qualifying seventh.
The seven-time world champion commented, “I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to catch up so I’m happy I was able to recover from P7. I had a good start, which was crucial and, bit by bit, I felt more comfortable with the balance of the car.
The cooler temperatures in qualifying and the race seemed to work well for us. We made a massive step from Friday and I’m very grateful for it. If the DRS had been working yesterday, we could have been in the run for the win.“
He realised his teammate ruined his own race to help him get his second place, saying, “I want to acknowledge my team, who have continued to push and have never given up through this tough year that we’ve had so far. It’s very special for us to have both cars on the podium today, although how the race unfolded was unlucky for George.
It’s an amazing way to go into the break, knowing we’re clearly closing the gap and have more performance. Hopefully, we’ll bring some more into the second part of the season and start fighting with the guys in the front.“
