Russell stars – and so does Hamilton
George Russell’s inherited third place, keeping up his top-five finishing record, showed once again how accomplished he is. The 24-year-old started two places ahead of 37-year-old Lewis Hamilton, but Russell was nearly 50 seconds off Verstappen at the flag, as Mercedes continues to race in a different (inferior) league to Red Bull. But as best of the rest, Russell had shone.
So too did Hamilton, who was forced to dig deep in tricky circumstances. Like Ferrari and Leclerc, Mercedes chose to stop both of its drivers under the VSC, leaving Hamilton stacked and briefly delayed as the second one into the pits. That allowed Sebastian Vettel to get ahead for Aston Martin. It seemed that, once again, things were going against the seven-time champion, but now in a lowly 11th place behind others who hadn’t stopped, Lewis got his head down and showed his fighting spirit.
Sure, Vettel gave him a place back when the German outbraked himself after pulling a move on Esteban Ocon, but Hamilton then passed the Alpine and both AlphaTauris to fight his way to a hard-earned fourth place.
At the end he hobbled away from his car, complaining of severe back ache in the wake of the dreaded ongoing Mercedes ‘bounce’. It seems to affect him more than anyone and Toto Wolff even cast some doubt on Hamilton being fit for the Canadian Grand Prix later this week. Fifteen years on from the scene of his first grand prix win in 2007, it would be a pity if Hamilton can’t race on a circuit where he’s always shone. Then again, the high-speed and fairly bumpy Montréal circuit will be just what he doesn’t need right now.