Russell admits new rear suspension "clearly wasn't performing as we'd have hoped"
On the back of his first podium finish since the Montreal F1 race, Mercedes driver George Russell admitted that the new rear suspension "clearly wasn't performing as we'd have hoped."
Mercedes had looked to struggle for pace at the start of the Budapest weekend with their W16 that featured the previous-specification rear suspension.
However, George Russell went on to secure fourth place on the grid on Saturday, albeit his rookie team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli failed to qualify higher than P14.
At the start of the 70-lap Mogyoród race, Russell was opportunistic, picking off Lando Norris to run third. Although he had appeared to finish in fourth place, he managed to pick off Charles Leclerc after the Monegasue battled through technical issues. In the end, Russell finished third to claim his first podium finish since his dominant victory at the Canadian Grand Prix.
His team-mate Antonelli made up several positions at the start. The Bologna-born then committed himself to a one-stop strategy, and he racked up 48 laps on the same set of hards to finish tenth in Mogyoród, picking up a solitary point.
Asked whether he was proud coming home with the podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Russell claimed that it came as a surprise based on Mercedes' performance on the first two days of the Budapest weekend.
"Yeah. Really happy with the race today. Obviously, yesterday qualifying was a bit of a surprise. This whole weekend's been a bit surprising for everyone, but so happy to be back on the podium.
"It's good to be back on the podium. It's obviously been a challenging run of form for us as a team these last six or so races, so it's a great way to enter the break.
Pressed on to explain the turnaround after a run of several tough race weekends, the four-time Grand Prix winner stressed that Mercedes' decision to revert to a previous-specification rear suspension played a part in the upturn in form.
"We reverted on some of the items we brought. Early in the season we brought a new rear suspension that clearly wasn't performing as we'd have hoped.
"But it was also a pretty unique weekend. You see the results by McLaren, and it was quite an unusual finishing order from P3 down. Obviously, Max was quite out of position.
"The Astons had a really strong race weekend as well. So, I don't think we should get carried away with the result. But, clearly, in terms of pace, it was our best race of the season bar Canada.
