George Russell scored Mercedes’ first podium position of what has so far been a difficult year at the Canadian Grand Prix but still left Montreal on Sunday night saying the race "felt like a missed opportunity".
"I am a bit disappointed in myself," Russell, who finished third, said. "Two errors cost me. Maybe the end result might not have been that much different. But it feels great to be disappointed with third. Norris said he "should have won" - and a first safety car period scuppered what was looking like becoming a race-winning advantage for the McLaren. And whenever Verstappen got into the lead, he never truly looked like losing it, and usually pulled away.
They have been piling upgrades on to it since Miami - first new bodywork, then a new floor, and now a new front wing. And in Canada it all came together to create their best performance of the year by far. By lap 21, Norris was past using the DRS on the back straight. And that led to the first of Russell’s errors. As the McLaren passed him, he missed the final chicane, and Verstappen was able to slip past, too, on the exit. First had become third in one corner.
A second safety car gave Mercedes another shot - they pitted Russell and Hamilton for fresh tyres while Verstappen and Norris stayed out. So now the Mercedes drivers had a 10-lap tyre advantage with 11 laps to go, albeit they were now lying fourth and fifth, also behind the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
"Lots of mistakes and just overall really poor, fighting for fourth place when I should have been further up. It’s great we are looking like we are closer to the front, but I have some work to do to improve. Once I start driving with my head I should be able to get some better results." But he added a note of caution: "Yeah, the car was very quick, but this track is very different from everything else; it is an outlier."Norris was another to feel a win might have slipped away. In his case, it was perhaps even more justified.
"We didn't do a good enough job as a team to box when we should have done and not get stuck behind the safety car. So I don't think it was a luck or unlucky kind of thing. I don't think it was the same as Miami . This was just making a wrong call.
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