Russell "venting" over lost third place prompted radio call from Wolff · RaceFans - RaceFans

George Russell says Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff spoke to him during the race to calm him down after he “vented my frustration” on the radio.

The Mercedes driver was infuriated after he skidded into the escape road at Mirabeau, costing him what he felt was a chance to finish on the podium.

“It was an exceptionally boring race until the rain came down – and sort of came out of nowhere as it wasn’t really on the forecast,” he told media including RaceFans.

Having started eighth, he moved up to third place by not pitting as other drivers did before the late rain shower. However he made a costly error soon after he switched to intermediates.

“I’m really kicking myself because P3 was almost guaranteed after not pitting,” he admitted. “I came out, there was a yellow flag, I backed off, and as soon as I touched the brakes, I locked up and followed Stroll up the escape route.

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“That’s probably a lesson that actually when you’re not on it and you’re not focussed, you make those mistakes. Probably if there wasn’t a yellow flag there, I would have just been focusing more and I wouldn’t have gone off and cost most the team a comfortable P3.”

As he rejoined the track, Russell tangled with Sergio Perez. The stewards ruled the Mercedes driver returned to the track in an unsafe fashion and gave him a five-second time penalty.

Russell “was venting my frustration at myself” on the radio when Wolff spoke to him, he said. “As a driver, you sometimes want to get this frustration out of your body and maybe it’s not necessarily easy for everybody to understand why.”

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“I actually learned that my mistake wasn’t actually shown on television until a replay after the race,” he added. “The rejoining was from the prior mistake.

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“I don’t think it was actually clear to many people that we were effectively P3 on-track and lost it. So a lot of people were texting me saying well done for P5 not realising that I actually made a big mistake and cost us P3.”

The contact with Perez compromised Russell’s handling. “It definitely damaged the car a bit. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to continue but it kind of sorted itself out as the laps progressed.

“I think the toe [angles] got bent at the rear end. I felt really uncomfortable in the car, but we were quickest on track during that period, so I don’t really know what was going on.”

He was able to build up enough of a gap of Charles Leclerc that he didn’t lose a position after his penalty was applied. “As soon as I knew we were safe to Charles I just brought it home,” he said. “It’s very bitterly disappointing when you do everything right for 98% of it but that one tiny mistake costs everything.”

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