Russell relieved: 'I had absolutely no idea where Max was'

The race committee decided to abandon the Belgian Grand Prix and the top ten drivers got half of the points. A rock-solid qualifying performance put George Russell on the podium for the first time in his life.

The Williams driver surprised everyone during qualifying in Belgium by setting a faster time than Lewis Hamilton, allowing him to start the race behind Max Verstappen. It never came to a start though, but he has the points.

Russell celebrates first podium finish

Russell is glad afterwards that the race didn't go ahead. "Coming out of Turn 1, all the way up through Eau Rouge and into turn five I think, for me, I felt like as soon as we were over probably 200km/h that spray was just too drastic and I had absolutely no idea where Max was," Russell told a press release. "That was probably less concerning… it was probably more concerning for drivers behind me because they can’t see me as well and yeah, I don’t think I rarely got full throttle down the straights and you were just losing tyre temperature as well"

"The laps behind the safety car and everything, one after another, was just making it impossible out there so yeah, we may as well have been driving up the straight with our eyes closed at points because that’s how it would have been had the race started."