Russell heard from Alonso about podium swap Jeddah: 'He had inside info'

George Russell first heard from Fernando Alonso that the Aston Martin driver had regained his podium spot in Saudi Arabia. At the press conference ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver looks back at the post-race chaos of the previous race and discusses the opportunities he sees in Australia.

A confusing situation arose after the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso had secured a podium spot but received a 10-second time penalty after the podium ceremony for a mistake during his pit stop. Russell slid further into third spot as a result, but even before the evening was over the FIA revoked Alonso's penalty, giving the Spaniard his podium spot back.

"Obviously, it was the right decision," Russell said firmly. "It was just a bit of a shame, what a mess it was for everybody else included, I think from my side and our side, we didn't feel like we deserved to finish in third position, but obviously it's quite a nice feeling when it's handed to you. And then when it's obviously taken away from you again… It was all a bit silly. Fernando was actually the first person to tell me that I'd lost the position, because I bumped into him at the airport. So he clearly had some insider info. But congrats to him, he was a deserving P3 finisher."

Fernando was the one to let George know about their podium place switch! #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/y7nnoM5DN1

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 30, 2023

Russell sees a battle behind Red Bull as the highest achievable

For Mercedes, the result meant the team was once again condemned to a place behind both Red Bulls and the Aston Martin, although unlike the first race, Mercedes did manage to keep both Ferrarisbehind this time. It is not a thunderous start to the season for Mercedes, although Russell remains optimistic that the team can gain some ground as the season progresses.

"P4 was, I think, the absolute maximum we could have achieved. It was a good result.  But you know, we're here to win, we're here to fight for victories and for the championship and clearly we're not in a position to do that at the moment. But big changes are incoming. There's nothing that you'll see on the car this weekend, because naturally you can't get things brought that quickly to the car. But I think in due course, we'll see some big changes. We’re probably finding more gains in the past two or three weeks than we found over the whole winter by clearly developing in the wrong window. I think if we manage to get another P4 or fight for the podium that will probably be exceeding the potential of the car. So, if we can fight with Aston and Ferrari again, that'd be a good weekend."