‘It probably would have been a race win’ – Russell rues ‘frustrating’ Japanese GP after ‘everything that could go wrong, did go wrong’

George Russell was left to rue a “frustrating” Japanese Grand Prix, with the Briton feeling that his result “probably would have been a race win” had it not been for the Safety Car emerging only one lap after he made a pit stop.

After both Mercedes cars suffered a difficult start to the race and each dropped positions, Russell worked his way forwards again in the laps that followed, eventually going on to challenge McLaren’s Oscar Piastri for the lead.

While his attempted overtake did not work out, the Briton remained in P2 before visiting the pits, bringing him back out on track in fifth place.

But just moments later, a crash for Haas’ Ollie Bearman resulted in the Safety Car being deployed, meaning that team mate Kimi Antonelli – who had provisionally been running in the lead, having not yet pitted – could make his stop and re-emerge in P1. The timing left Russell audibly frustrated over the team radio.

From there onwards Antonelli built a strong lead and took his second consecutive victory, a result that also gave him the lead in the Drivers’ Championship. Russell, meanwhile, slipped back to fourth at the restart after being overtaken by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, before appearing to briefly slow shortly afterwards and losing another position to the other Scuderia car of Charles Leclerc.

While both he and Leclerc later passed Hamilton, Russell’s attempts to snatch the final spot on the podium from Leclerc did not prove fruitful, leaving the Mercedes driver to cross the line in fourth place.

Asked afterwards about the fact that nothing seemed to go his way on race day at Suzuka, Russell conceded: “No. If it had been one lap difference, then it probably would have been a race win. That’s frustrating.”

The 28-year-old went on to detail the multitude of things that had gone against him along with the timing of the Safety Car.

“Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong,” he explained. “Obviously we both made bad starts – mine was slightly less bad; Safety Car timing; [at the] restart, I got a harvest limit which meant I couldn’t recharge my battery, similar to what’s happened with some drivers at the race starts.

“I had no battery to restart – Lewis passed me – and then I faced another battery problem when Charles passed me. As I said, one lap different and we’d be having probably a very different conversation.”

The result means that Russell now sits nine points behind Antonelli in the Championship standings ahead of the next round on the calendar in Miami.