The Mercedes driver won the Sprint in China
“I was managing the tires on the first lap and Lewis caught me by surprise.” As George Russell explained what happened during the first lap in which the Ferrari driver took the lead in the mixed section after an excellent start which saw him climb into second position already at the first corner.
Hamilton kept Russell busy for a long time, then once the overtaking was finally completed Russell was able to pull away before the Safety Car which regrouped the group. The Mercedes driver he managed the restart well and he didn’t even have to from Charles Leclerc in the last two laps.
Russell however pointed out that Ferrari is very dangerous at race pace: “We need to improve in the long run because in qualifying we are ahead, but in the race Ferrari is very close. Usually the Sprint is boring, but today it seemed like a go-kart race with 3-4 drivers fighting for the victory. I hope it was nice to see, I had fun in the car and when overtaking you really need to be clear in terms of strategy.”
