Russell Reveals Reason For Gutting DNF From British Grand Prix

Monday, 08 July 2024 at 22:00

Mercedes driver George Russell revealed what issue caused the gutting retirement from his home race - the 2024 British Grand Prix.

Coming to the race at Silverstone Circuit, George Russell was in the prime position to score a victory as he was able to secure the pole with the best lap in qualifying on Sunday.

At the start, he collaborated with his teammate Lewis Hamilton to keep everyone behind, and as long as the track conditions were dry, it looked like Mercedes had the car to deliver a one-two result.

The wet conditions that came after a short rain made everything a bit more challenging, and that was when the 26-year-old lost a position with his teammate and two McLarens.

It was then that he had to go for a double-stack pit stop right behind his teammate, which would lose him some time, but the Briton said he wasn't really worried about losing 1-2 seconds in the pit stop:

"I wasn't too worried because it's a long race, but as soon as I went back out, I was losing power, so I knew from that point on the race was gone."

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The loss of power was the first big hint from which Russell knew he might not be able to finish the race. Not too long after that, he was called back into the pits to retire his car. Russell revealed the problem:

`"We were still in the fight, but ten laps before the failure, I knew I had a problem because I was losing power and then had a water failure. No water to the engine."

Fortunately for Mercedes, their other driver, Lewis Hamilton, went on to bring home a sensational victory that overshadowed Russell's DNF. He added:

"It's incredible. Lewis taking the win, but we had the car, in normal dry circumstances, to be one-two. We're clearly back, and I think we'll be fighting for race wins more often now."

"Within myself in the car, I've been feeling good. Obviously, this is a real blow, retiring from any race, never mind your home grand prix when you have the car to win, but we'll have another go.