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Formula 1 German GP
Russell says Williams "made wrong choice" with tyres
George Russell feels his Williams team "made the wrong choice" with his tyre strategy during the German Grand Prix, admitting they threw away the chance of a much better result.
Jake Boxall-Legge
Edited: Jul 29, 2019, 8:46 PM
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During the penultimate safety car period Russell occupied 13th position, ahead of Lance Stroll, who elected to pit for slicks as the safety car began its final lap on lap 45.
Stroll was immediately able to bring his tyres up to temperature on the restart and, after a flurry of pitstops as the field changed intermediate tyres for slicks, momentarily led the race.
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The Racing Point driver managed fourth place as a result, and Russell felt that a similar result was possible had Williams granted him his request to stop at the same time as Stroll.
Russell went on to finish in 11th, while teammate Robert Kubica scored Williams' first point of the season up ahead, thanks to penalties for the two Alfa Romeo cars.
Asked how often he was on the wrong tyre during the race, Russell said: "Probably most of the race really! I wanted to start on the inter but we started on wets, we stayed out on the wets under the first safety car when we should have pitted to the inter.
"Then at the end of the race I wanted to box to go to the slick. For some reason we stayed out but I understand the position the team were in, probably why we chose to do that, and you know everyone is struggling to keep on the black stuff.
"We're not in a position to throw something away like that. We were ahead of Lance when he pitted under the safety car and we didn't, and he ended up coming out in second.
"So it proves we made the wrong choice."
Russell believes he should have been more "forceful" in telling Williams which tyres he wanted to fit.
"The car felt really poor in all conditions," he said. "The worst thing was we had the opportunity to go onto slicks under the last safety car when I was ahead of Lance.
"I wanted to pit, but I probably wasn't forceful enough to tell the team to pit for slicks. For some reason we decided to stay out and next thing, we're pitting one lap later and Lance is up to P2.
"So it could have been so much more."
Asked how challenging the race had been, he said: "It was extremely challenging, but I think it was from our own doing really.
"It was challenging for everyone but I mean, it just felt like driving on ice in all conditions. I probably had two laps in the whole 60-odd laps that there were that felt relatively decent.
"But every lap, every tyre compound and every part of the race it just felt very difficult to drive. So, it's probably the least satisfying race and weekend we've had all year."
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