George Russell felt Lance Stroll slowing in F1 Azerbaijan GP was against the rules for the pit moment, as he adds on re-start moment.
Mercedes’ George Russell felt what Aston Martin’s Stroll did in F1 Azerbaijan GP did while coming in the pitlane was not with the rules. The Canadian seemingly was slowing down as much as they were going for double stack and Fernando Alonso was not far ahead.
Agitated with the slowness, Russell went alongside Stroll when entering the pits in a dramatic moment to watch. There was no investigation for the Canadian, but it didn’t stop Russell to call it out as being against the rules that has been set.
“It played in my hand I managed to overtake him on the way into the pit lane,” said Russell to the media. “So yeah, I think it’s against the rules to do what he did. It was obviously a bit questionable but it was quite satisfying to get ahead. It was a good pitstop by the guys and then just a shame that I let it all slip.
“It was very close with us and Aston Martin. Small differences can make a big change in terms of results as we saw in the sprint, as we saw in Melbourne, but ultimately we’re on the back foot,” summed up Russell, who was disappointed overall to finish only eighth after he lost out to Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Stroll post the re-start.
He gained those places by stopping under the safety car but the re-start saw him a bit boxed up which allowed Alonso to pounce on him. A few laps on, teammate Hamilton and Stroll too got through him and there was nothing more he could have done apart from going for the fastest lap. At one point he was catching Stroll but to no avail.
“A little bit disappointed with myself,” said Russell. “I made a really good start got into good position around the pitstops to get ahead of Stroll and then I just made a mess of the restart. I was defending from Lance, almost went into the back of Fernando, ran wide got my tyres dirty ultimately the reason why Lance and Lewis got by and from then on it was the line astern.
“I just got a bit caught out about how early Fernando braked, I had to almost go to the right in Turn 1 instead of turning left, got onto the dirt and it just all went downhill from there. So yeah, not good enough from my side. It’s always a bit chaotic, some of these safety car restarts especially on a track like this.
“Two days, two poor ones from my side, I need to do better,” summed up Russell. From Stroll’s side, it was straightforward thing as he was surprised seeing the Brit alongside him. “I got to look into it, I mean, it all kind of happened quickly,” he said. “It was a little surprise. We’ve had to look into it.”
He also had a brush with the wall but was unscathed. “We got to check,” he said. “I mean, it felt like a good bump! So I’m pretty happy standing here right now, finishing the race. I thought it might have been done there. So yeah, we’ve got away with that one.”
Here’s fastest lap from George Russell: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.dhl-fastest-lap-award-2023-azerbaijan-grand-prix.1764620575976570805.html
Here’s Fernando Alonso on passing Carlos Sainz but not Charles Leclerc
Here’s how F1 Azerbaijan GP panned out
