Russell says the fight with Perez was a little too close…
George Russell thought he was “about to go airborne” during his battle for position with Sergio Perez in the Italian GP.
The Mercedes driver damaged his wing on the first lap and after a long early stop for a replacement he had to make his way back up.
He was fighting Perez for seventh place when the Mexican made it hard to get by.
“I thought I was about to go airborne when he was squeezing me at 340,” he said when asked by this writer about the fight. “Hard racing, and at least glad to make up one position. It was right at the very, very limit.”
Asked if he would speak to the Red Bull driver he said: “There’s nothing to say. We didn’t crash at the end of the day. And I got past him. Half a centimetre more, and it could have been a different story.”
Russell’s wing damage occurred after he got out of shape behind Oscar Piastri under braking for the first corner and had to slalom between the escape road marker boards.
He damaged a front endplate, something that the following Perez was quick to point out in the radio in an effort to force Russell to pit.
“Just got caught out by Oscar’s braking point,” said Russell. “The brakes started locking up because I was so close to him, and I had to take avoiding action.
“So it’s quite upsetting when your whole weekend goes away from you so quick. But looking at the pace afterwards, I don’t think we would have been able to keep up with the McLarens and Ferrari.”
Regarding the impact of the damage he said: “It lost a huge amount of performance in stint one, so we had to pit on lap eight.
“Obviously you change the wing, slow stop. It was a really disappointing day, but ultimately, we didn’t have the pace.
“The sport is a bit strange at the moment, with how Red Bull have lost so much pace. Ferrari seemed to be struggling in Zandvoort and all the races prior, but then they were so quick on Sunday in Zandvoort and this whole weekend. So I don’t really know.”
Adam Cooper F1 