Russell looks back on first win: 'Lewis was constantly in my mirror'

George Russell found it difficult to race against his teammate at the Brazilian Grand Prix. During the press conference afterwards, the brand new race winner explained how much extra pressure that gave during the second half of the race.

Russell can look back on his first victory in Formula 1 with pride. Twice he was allowed to restart the race after a safety car and both times he managed to come out on top. After Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton lost ground early on and he managed to keep Perez behind him, Russell had little to fear for most of the race. Only in the final stages did another formidable challenge come when he and Hamilton were given a free hand to race each other.

"Definitely tricky, for sure," acknowledged Russell. "There was a sort of a moment in the race where I was looking a lot at my mirrors, you know, seeing Lewis there, but I sort of realised I just need to look forward now. And the only way I'm going to win this race, is by looking ahead, driving as fast as I can, making no mistakes. My engineer was on the radio, giving me the gaps, probably four times a lap. I just wanted that little extra half a second buffer. It was only when I came into Sector 3 on the last lap that I knew we’d got it."

Racing with Hamilton carried a risk

For a while it seemed that Russell had not expected that he and Hamilton would be allowed to race. Asked if he was prepared for that, Russell replied, "Yes, and no. Because we've always said that we're free to race. Toto and the team have put a lot of faith and trust in Lewis and I and we've obviously had a few side-by-side moments throughout this year. If we were racing, it was a quali lap every single lap and you're risking every corner. Because the laps just had to be perfect."