Formula 1 British GP
Russell: Leclerc was borderline with “questionable” British GP defending
George Russell has accused Charles Leclerc of “questionable defending” during the Formula 1 British GP, suggesting that some of the Ferrari driver’s moves were “borderline.”
Adam Cooper
Edited: Jul 11, 2023, 11:09 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Russell followed Leclerc closely for the first 18 laps of the race but could not get by until the latter made an early first stop.
Later Russell emerged from his own slow mid-race pit stop behind Leclerc having run an unusually long first stint on the soft tyres.
The pair then enjoyed a brief but spectacular tussle before Russell went past on his way to an eventual fifth place.
"I felt good on those tyres,” said Russell of his opening stint. “And that was 28 laps within one second of a car ahead.
"I think I could have extended even further had it been clear air. I felt really good on that on that tyre, it felt really good on our car.
“I did my best to overtake Charles, some questionable defending at points. But it wouldn't have changed my race. Had I got past him, it probably would have meant I would have boxed even earlier.
“Probably both the McLarens would have pitted to cover me. So I still probably would have finished fifth."
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Asked by Motorsport.com to expand on Leclerc’s defending moves Russell said: "It was just about braking into Turn 16. I was about to lunge him down inside and right at the braking zone he came across pretty aggressively.
“That's clearly not allowed in the rules. I think they gave him a slap on the wrist. But you know when you got one overtaking opportunity and [he gets] sort of a warning for it, it's a bit frustrating."
Russell said he had no plans to pursue the matter in the next drivers’ briefing.
“I don't think I need to,” he noted: “It was very borderline. I need to look at a video again.
"It felt on the limit from within the car, or maybe just over the limit. I've not seen a replay. I'm not too concerned about it right now."
Russell admitted that he had expected to be able to fight the McLarens in the last part of the race when he was on the medium tyre and Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had made a surprise switch to hards.
“I thought it was going to be clear cut, Lewis [Hamilton] and I P2 and P3, and see you later,” he said.
“But I couldn't believe how well they turned the tyres on and got it going. Perhaps if they put the soft on with their car, it may not have worked the same way as it worked on ours.
“And equally, if we had the hards on, it probably wouldn't have worked the same way as it did on their car.
“But yeah, for me that medium/hard was definitely the wrong strategy. The soft was certainly the best tyre. And they were just a good one and a half, two-tenths ahead of us."
Read Also:
- Red Bull: Perez's championship position is relieving pressure
- The pre-qualifying pick that helped Norris fight Verstappen and "murder" Hamilton
- Mercedes poised to switch full focus to 2024 F1 car and abandon “Diva 2.0”
- Verstappen: Changing F1 order behind Red Bull "very confusing"
Russell also took responsibility for the pit stop delay: “I think probably only lost about a second and a bit.
“It was my fault, I attacked the entry too much, locked up the tyres. It's a bit scary for the guys when the car is not under control. It didn't change my race.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Red Bull: Perez's championship position is relieving pressure
Next article Alpine shuffles motorsport management structure under CEO Rossi
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Latest news
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
32 min
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 1 h
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 2 h
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 3 h
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe