Windsor praises Russell for tyre management: 'Fabulous piece of driving'

F1 News

Windsor stunned by Russell's tyre management in Monaco
27 May at 11:00

George Russell started on the hard tyres, and like Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, opted for the mediums after the race restarted following a red flag. However, unlike the other two, Russell completed the entire race on the same set of medium tyres. For Peter Windsor, he found this rather impressive. 

In his latest YouTube video, Windsor praised Russell for managing the 78 lap race without making a pitstop, aside from the one made under red flag conditions. He said: "In the late phase of the race George out on that long run on mediums running them all the way through to the finish, fabulous drive by George."

Russell himself said he felt confident with their choice of tyres: "I really felt we were in for a good shot today when I saw everyone start on the mediums in front of me. Especially when Carlos had that puncture, I thought, we've got a minimum chance to fight for the podium here, maybe even more," he told GPBlog and others in the paddock. 

'Fabulous piece of driving' 

Nevertheless, Russell finished fifth behind Lando Norris, but ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton. Windsor exclaimed just how impressive Russell's tyre management was: "I think from the public point of view george russell not making any mistakes with those medium tires presumably on the edge and somewhere near the end of their life not one lock up not one mistake going into the chicane going into rascasse fabulous piece of driving. From where i was sitting at monaco a lot of people appreciated that and realised how good a job George did in that car." 

However, for Russell, he believes something needs to change to make the race more interesting, given the limited number of pitstops and overtakes made by the drivers. The Mercedes driver said: "I think if we only brought soft tyres, a soft tyre wouldn't last the whole race. You may even need to do two stops. Somebody might try a one-stop. I think just having the whole weekend on softs would solve a lot of problems. "