George Russell has revealed that he was inspired by Fernando Alonso’s similar performance in 2011 and prepared for the opportunity to take the lead from fourth place at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Thirteen years ago, Alonso, then with Ferrari, moved from fourth to first by passing both Red Bull drivers at turn one of his home race. Russell also made similar ground this year, but went to the outside of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the first corner, saying it was a move he had made after studying forecast weather conditions overnight and preparing for a lap on the grid.
“I had that dream too. [on Saturday] What is my plan of attack for the night,” Russell said. “I looked at the weather forecast and the wind changed to a headwind at Turn 1. This meant I could brake very late into a corner.
“When I was racing karts, I always remember watching Fernando start P4 and take the lead here in 2011. So I always knew it was possible.
“It was a calculated risk. I did four laps to the grid and practiced braking as late as possible each lap. So I knew where the limits were, I knew how strong the wind was, I knew what was possible with the car. So I calculated the risk and was happy I did it.”
Russell eventually regained his starting position in fourth behind Verstappen, Norris and Lewis Hamilton, and admitted it was a somewhat disappointing result considering he finished the opening lap.
“I think a few little things are going against us. A slow pit stop left us feeling a bit pressured midway through. Then I lost a lot of time as I was fighting Lando and getting on hard tires. It was pretty rubbish, but it protected P3 and P4 as a team and that’s what we were aiming for.
“We knew the hard work wasn’t going to make for good tires, but we wanted to split the risk between Lewis and myself. Because if we had extended it, we could potentially have been threatened by Charles. [Leclerc] behind. So we reduced our risk as a team.
“Obviously it was a little disappointing not to get on the podium, but we were there last week. Lewis has done a great job and as a team we are taking the positives out of a couple of really promising races.”
