George Russell feeling 'pretty rubbish' as Lewis Hamilton can't hide his delight

06 May 2024 , 16:25

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Lewis Hamilton was a happy man after the Miami Grand Prix (Image: Sky Sports)

Just two places separated them - but Lewis Hamilton was a lot happier with his Miami Grand Prix result than team-mate George Russell.

In previous years, sixth place would hardly be cause for celebration from the seven-time Formula 1 champion. But it is his best Grand Prix result of a difficult season to date and he felt much more comfortable in his Mercedes than has been the case in recent weeks.

After a close fight with Nico Hulkenberg in the opening stages and an ultimately unsuccessful chase of Sergio Perez later on, Hamilton was pleased with his afternoon's work. He said: "So much fun. I've really enjoyed this weekend race-wise. It's been a lot of fun on track.

"[I've had] really great, tough, close battles. I mean, going out to Turn 11, up against the wall, wheels locked - I was like, 'Oh jeez, this could be either a big crash into this corner or I'm going by'. So I love that I had that, in zero fear in that moment, so I'm super grateful for that.

"Then, to be able to hold on to a Red Bull, was really quite cool - great job by my team." He was also beaming about Lando Norris' victory and expressed his pride in both his fellow Briton and his old McLaren team for their success.

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Norris became the 21st British drive to win a world championship F1 race by beating Max Verstappen to the chequered flag in Florida. Number 20 on the list is Russell, whose first and so far only victory came in Brazil in 2022.

"He's deserving of a race victory probably many, many years ago," Russell said of his friend Norris. "And I think for all the drivers in Formula 1 in this era of dominance from one team and one driver, it's always great to see somebody get that chance to score a victory."

George Russell wasn't happy with his day (Sky Sports)

But while he was happy for Norris, Russell didn't have much positive to say about his own result after finishing eighth. He said glumly: "It was a pretty rubbish race from start to finish, in all honesty. I had a good start but when Checo [Perez] sent it down the inside, when he rejoined everybody had to check up a bit and it cost me three positions.

"Then I just had no pace at all there on in, so I need to check the car, check the data because something didn't feel quite right. It's definitely felt like a more difficult weekend than all of the others, but the results have all really been relatively similar.

"We are between P5 on a good day and P8 on a bad day, and today was a bad day, we finished P8. Lewis had a good day, drove really well and finished P6. It's kind of where we are."

Daniel Moxon