George Russell topped FP1 in Austria

Russell defends Mercedes decision-making despite slumping nearly outside of the points

13:19, 07 Jul

Updated: 20:03, 07 Jul

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byLuke-John Buckle

George Russell had high hopes heading into the British Grand Prix as he lined up fourth on the grid.

The Mercedes driver put in a superb performance at his home race in qualifying to get ahead of both Ferraris.

Despite the competitive qualifying, Mercedes didn't play it safe and took some significant gambles, which didn't pay off.

The 3.6-mile circuit was wet, but Russell pitted at the end of the formation lap for slick tyres as the circuit continued to dry.

This decision dropped Russell down the field, and the track wasn't quite ready for dry tyres at Silverstone.

Despite the call to go onto slick tyres not paying off, the British driver defended his team after finishing in 10th place.

George Russell slumped to P10 at Silverstone

The call at the start "was not a bad decision"

After the Grand Prix, he told GPblog and others: "I think the decision in the beginning was not a bad decision, it was dry for 25 minutes but what we didn't know is we would have 15 minutes of virtual safety car, as soon we got going at the end, we were five seconds faster than the intermediate tyre.

"Therefore, I believe that without a virtual safety car, the dry tyres would have been ahead of those on the wet tyres.

"But that went against us. So, at the end of the day, if you take a conservative decision, we will come home with a conservative result. When you have a fast car, you can afford to be conservative because you will always get a good result."

The Mercedes driver's strategy didn't work out at Silverstone, but he has still had a very impressive season. He won in Canada and has been consistently in the top five. Despite his consistent form, Russell is without a contract for 2026 with the German team.

Russell will be looking to bounce back at the Belgian Grand Prix next time out. A track where he saw the chequered flag first last year, but got disqualified, handing then-teammate Lewis Hamilton the win.