What made the Belgian GP weekend difficult was obviously the rain. Preparation was minimal due to the heavy rain on Friday and Saturday, and the rain did not make things easy for Russell on Sunday either. In his first stint on the medium tyre, the Briton stayed on track as long as possible in anticipation of the rain. The rain that did fall was disappointing and not enough for a tyre change to the special rain tyres.

Russell still set on Red Bull on P1

Russell told GPblog and others after the race: "[In hindsight] I was happy. I think the one-stop run, it was a pretty competitive stint. During the last stint, I felt really strong on the soft tyre. As I said, it's just been a really challenging weekend. I'm glad it's over. A bit of a reset and go again."

The Mercedes driver added: "All in all, it was a good race. Both the races were competitive, opening that gap here to P3 in the Championship, but we're still focused on Red Bull and trying to close that gap." It will be quite a challenge for Mercedes. Indeed, Red Bull currently stands on a total of 503 points and Mercedes still on 247.