Russell "wasn't happy about" Leclerc's defending in their battle in Hungarian GP
On the back of his fierce battle with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the closing stages of last Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, Mercedes driver George Russell conceded that he "wasn't happy about" Leclerc's defending tactics at the Hungaroring.
Ferrari endured mixed emotions in Saturday’s qualifying at the Hungaroring. Lewis Hamilton failed to secure anything better than a P12 on the grid after struggling for pace in constantly-changing weather conditions.
On the other side of the garage, Charles Leclerc also looked to uncomfortable behind the wheel of his SF-25, albeit he progressed into the final part of qualifying. With a storming lap, he grabbed pole position on a track where he never really felt himself competitive.
Come the race, the Monegasque had a great start to maintain the lead into Turn 1. During his first stint, he looked very competitive and was able to build up a margin from his closest rival Oscar Piastri.
Although he appeared to be strong during his second stint as well, his pace unexpectedly faded in the last segment of the Mogyoród race which saw him fall back to P4, ending a disappointing day at the Hungaroring.
After the race, Leclerc has revealed that a technical issue was the cause of his sudden pace loss that saw him drop behind the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris and the Mercedes of George Russell.
The Monegasque was chanceless in his battle with the Mercedes man because of his technical issues. However, he was desperate to fend off Russell's attacks. When the Briton got into the DRS zone of the Ferrari and launched himself down the inside of Turn 1, Leclerc fiercely defended and prompting the Briton to complain that he moved under braking.
Russell tried again at the start of Lap 62 and managed to squeeze through amid some more risky defending from Leclerc, which resulted in a five-second time penalty for the Ferrari.
Asked to comment on his overtaking manoeuvre, Russell said: 'You know, when you're coming down the straight at 330 and you sort of dive into the corner, you're right on the limit of your car's grip. You can't just brake and turn to avoid somebody because you're already at the limit of that grip.
"So, I made my intentions really clear, diving to the inside, and he moved after he had committed to braking, which is not allowed in the rules because of that reason.
"So, he did it once. I wasn't happy about it. Second time, I was like, well, I'm going to just send it down the inside now, and he did it again, and we made contact.
"I was glad to get by. But I think when you watch it on TV, you think, “Oh, why can't you just turn to avoid it?” But as I said, you are right on the limit of the car's potential," concluded Russell.
