Russell on nerve wracking race: 'Gives us confidence for the future'

19:18, 13 Apr

byNorberto Mujica

In the end, George Russell once again maximised his results in an F1 race, this time with a P2 in the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Briton reacts to the ongoing investigation into his DRS infringement.

"It was all under control for a moment and then suddenly we had a brake by wire failure," explained Russell during the on the grid interviews following the race.

"Suddenly the pedal was going long and then it was going short, so [I] didn't know what was going on."

When it rains it pours, as the issues compounded for the Briton as he fought tooth and nail to keep his P2 ahead of a hard charging Lando Norris. "The steering wheel wasn't working properly so it was really hard fought to keep Lando behind. I think one more lap he would have got me pretty comfortably but, nevertheless, really pleased with P2."

2025 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix result gives Russell confidence for the future

In the end, P2 was the best Mercedes could achieve on Sunday in Bahrain. "Oscar was in a league of his own so congratulations to him and McLaren. For ourselves it's three podiums in four races all on different circuits, so it gives us confidence for the future."

As the W16 starting suffering from a myriad of reliability issues, Russell instead of pressing the radio button, ended up pushing the DRS activation button whilst out of DRS range and out of the DRS sector prescribed by Race Direction, something the Briton is currently underinvestigation for by the Stewards.

"We were having all sorts of failures and basically we had to do an overdrive on the DRS and on one lap I clicked the radio button and the DRS opened. So I straight away closed it again, backed off, nothing gained. I lost more than I gained, it was only open for a split second. Kind of goes to show the amount of issues we were having," concluded Russell.