George Russell believes Mercedes looked “a step ahead of Ferrari” at the Australian Grand Prix as they secured an impressive podium finish.
The Mercedes driver had his best start to the season yet, finishing third in Australia, one place better than his previous best result from the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
The result saw him join race winner Lando Norris and reigning world champion Max Verstappen on the podium in a race full of drama. He also benefited from a mistake by McLaren driver Oscar Piastrì, who was eliminated from the race for the top spot on home soil.
However, despite the challenging track conditions, which alternated between wet and dry sections, Russell and Mercedes had reason to be pleased. Mercedes and Ferrari were thought to be very close in terms of pace coming into Australia, but after convincingly outpacing Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in qualifying on Saturday and finishing five places ahead of Leclerc in Sunday’s race, Russell believes his team has an early advantage.
“The car speed was about where it was at the end of the race. We definitely looked a step ahead of Ferrari, but McLaren was significantly ahead of us,” said Russell.
Asked at the post-race press conference what was key to his podium finish, Russell added: “I was just trying to stay out of trouble.”
“Honestly, from the beginning it was clear that these guys were too fast for us, and we were faster than Ferrari, so I found myself in a neutral zone. I decided quite early on that the best way to finish the race was simply to get the car to the finish line,” he notes.
“If I had taken more risk, I wouldn’t have had any extra reward, because they were just too far away. I’m very happy to finish third. This wasn’t an easy race for anyone, just keeping the car on track was a challenge in itself, but I’m really happy with this podium.”
