Russell all but crowns Antonelli after Sepang heartbreak: 'Especially unlikely'
Photo: Race Pictures
Kada Sárközi joined GPblog as an editor ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season. He graduated with a BA in Sports Journalism in the UK and has covered Grands Prix and other F1 events live.
George Russell was disappointed not only with the car issue that eliminated him from contention, but with everything chaotic that happened during the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
"We had the right strategy, solid start to the race. Podium obviously looked very certain. Then obviously, the power unit issue was very disappointing. We don't know [what caused it]. There was just a sudden failure," Russell began to GPblog, among others, in Malaysia.
In general, Russell was not satisfied with what happened today at the Sepang International Circuit.
"The whole day felt like a bit of a faff with, you know, the delay and then the red flag and then, you know, endless laps behind the safety car and then suddenly do an extra laps to allow 'Checo' to overtake. It didn't feel very F1 today. And I'd have been a bit disappointed if I was in the stands watching. So, you know, that wasn't good. But, yeah, from my side, just a bit frustrating."
Photo: Race Pictures
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Title battle is now 'exceptionally unlikely'
With this result, Russell is now 84 points behind Kimi Antonelli in the drivers' standings after the Italian finished in second place behind Max Verstappen.
"Well, I knew that if I wanted to come back from the championship, I need to luck at my side," Russell continued.
"It wouldn't just be good performances. You know, here we are. Not only we don't have a look at my side, I've got bad luck on my side. So, yeah, I'll just keep fighting weekend by weekend, but, of course, it's exceptionally unlikely to be in the fight."
Wolff calls Sepang 'one of his worst experiences'
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The Mercedes CEO and team principal did not hide his disappointment after Russell suffered a power unit failure in Malaysia.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "I’m so massively annoyed, and not in a happy place.
""First of all, we didn’t have the speed that we were hoping to have before the weekend, so there’s a lot of homework to be done in order to recover, which I’m sure we will.
"Then the race literally, if you consider the fight with Lewis behind, went against us. We had such an advantage, one VSC, two Safety Cars, you couldn’t be more unlucky. And to make things worse, a PU failure with a few laps to go until the end for George, which is terrible for his championship and not good at all for our constructors’ points," the Austrian concluded.
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