(Motorsports news) Russell started the 57-lap race around Losail Circuit in second place, but teammate Hamilton, who started third on soft tyres, outran him into the opening curve. Hamilton attempted to move around the outside but collided with Russell, sending him spinning. In a very humid race, he pitted before clawing his way back to fourth place.
Russell believes that if not for the incident, which eliminated Hamilton on the spot, he could have challenged Red Bull’s three-time world champion Verstappen for victory. “I see no reason why not,” the Britishman stated when asked if he had threatened Verstappen. “We believe we were on pace, if not faster, than McLaren [who finished second with Oscar Piastri ahead of Lando Norris].”
“Seeing that Piastri finished so close to Max was really quite surprising.” Verstappen finally won by 4.8 seconds, albeit this margin was artificially constricted by the FIA and Pirelli capping stints at 18 laps after detecting minuscule tears in the tyre sidewalls caused by the circuit’s new elevated curb edges.
Red Bull manager Christian Horner believes Verstappen “went beyond an optimal strategy” to ensure he had tyre flexibility in the event of a late safety car. McLaren was the fastest on average, followed by Verstappen and Russell, with the Mercedes driver’s 10 best lap times an average of 0.531s slower than Verstappen’s.
Russell also welcomed Hamilton’s apologies, saying he accepted “100%” of the blame after analyzing the Turn 1 incident. Nonetheless, he regarded 2023 as a “complete disaster” for his championship hopes. “I was gutted because of the results for a team,” Russell explained. “This year’s drivers’ championship has been a total disaster for me.”
“I only have one goal, and that is to finish second in the team championship.” Of course, that was a huge opportunity. But I am confident that we will succeed. “So, I stand here now with positivity because the car was quick and we had a really strong race.”
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