F1 News: George Russell Speaks Out On His First Race Win - "I'm Speechless"
It's been a long five years since George Russell first stepped foot into an F1 car, but his perseverance has paid off with him taking his very first win at the Brazil Grand Prix. His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton followed him in P2, and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz has finished in a respectable P3.
With tears in his eyes, Russell talked about how it felt to win in the post-race interviews.
“What an amazing feeling … a huge thank you to the whole team … it’s been an emotional rollercoaster … I felt in control, Lewis was super-fast, and when I saw the safety car, I thought, 'Oh Jesus, this is going to be a really difficult end'. He put me under so much pressure.”
“I’m speechless, on the in-lap, all of these memories sort of come flooding back
“All the support I’ve had from my family, my team, my girlfriend, my manager … I can’t thank them enough. Yeah, super proud.
Mercedes struggled as a team this year with them having to combat terrible porpoising throughout almost all of the races this season. But with them both pushing hard to develop the car alongside the Mercedes engineers, they've created a car that is now well-deserving of 1-2 results.
Lewis Hamilton reflects this sentiment in his post-race interview, thanking his team for their hard work and congratulating George on his first win.
“Firstly I’ve got to say huge congratulations to George, what an amazing drive he did today … he truly deserves it.
“To my team, so proud of everyone back at the factory. This is huge result, so a big, big thank you.
Abu Dhabi is the next and final race of the 2022 season, so we'll be very interested to see if Mercedes can continue its newfound dominance and push forward in its campaign to take second place in the Constructor Standings.