According to former F1 driver Jan Lammers, the battle between George Russell and Max Verstappen was a “masterclass”. Speaking on NPO’s Nos Formule 1 Podcast, he mentioned how the DRS issue faced by the reigning world champion during the race led to a competitive fight between him and the Mercedes driver.
“Fortunately it gave nice fights with [George] Russell, because we haven’t seen them before. They did ten years ago on the kart track. It was wonderful to see and I really thought it was a masterclass of how to deal with each other and how to let each other live.”
The Briton went on to secure his second podium of the season for Mercedes at the Spanish GP while the Dutchman went on to bag his third consecutive victory of the season.
The new Mercedes driver started the race in P4, just behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. After the Spaniard had fallen down the pecking order due to a spin and Charles Leclerc suffered his DNF, George Russell was embroiled in a mid-race battle with both the Red Bull drivers.
Earlier in the race, while Verstappen was chasing down Charles Leclerc from second, he was caught out by a gust of wind that forced him onto the gravel and to lose his P2. The world champion had to join the track behind Russell and what ensued was a fantastic battle.
Despite having superior pace, the Dutchman was not able to overtake the Briton due to his DRS only working intermittently. In the end, Red Bull opted to pit Max Verstappen and put him on an alternate strategy that resulted in him making use of his superior speed to gain track position over Russell.
George Russell extends his lead over Lewis Hamilton to 28 points
George Russell has outperformed his illustrious teammate in five out of six races this year and has not finished behind the seven-time world champion since the first race of the season, where Lewis Hamilton had stood on the podium.
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Despite qualifying behind his teammate in P6, the 37-year-old drove a great recovery drive after his clash with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, which dropped him to the back of the grid. He finished the race in P5.
George Russell, on the other hand, scored another podium for Mercedes and extended his lead over Hamilton by to 28 points. If this trend continues, it will be interesting to see how the team dynamic at Mercedes unfolds.
Catch the Mercedes drivers next at the Monaco GP.
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