George Russell expresses sympathy for Charles Leclerc after Hungaroring race. George expresses sympathy for Charles.

Mercedes George Russell admitted that he feels for Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc following the unfortunate outcome endured by the Monegasque driver at the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod, with Charles losing out on the chance to fight for the race win and even a podium finish due to a very poor strategy call from the Maranello team.

George Russell took a surprising pole position on Saturday and was involved in a great battle with Charles Leclerc during the first part of the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, with the Ferrari driver overtaking Russell for the race lead thanks to a great move on the outside. However, Charles lost a lot of time after the Maranello team decided to mount the hard tyres at his second pit stops, which were not a good choice this weekend given the cold temperatures in Budapest. Once they realized that the Monegasque driver’s pace was very bad, Ferrari called him in for a third pit stop, putting him on the Softs, but by this time it was already too late to save a decent result in the Hungarian Grand prix.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went on to take another easy win once again helped by Ferrari’s misfortunes, and has now increased his lead at the top of the standings to a comfortable 80 points over Charles Leclerc, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, which takes place after the summer break.

In an interview for Sky F1 at the end of the Hungaroring event, George Russell admitted that he feels sorry for Charles Leclerc after his recent run in this first part of the season: “Max and Red Bull are cruising,” he said. “I think Max and Charles are on a similar level at the moment. I really feel for Charles, he’s doing a superb job and he’s been on the receiving end of a lot of bad luck. Max and Red Bull are just absolutely solid week in, week out. We have seen for the last couple of race weekends, they just bring the car home and pick up the pieces. But there’s no doubt we’re making progress.” – he added.

Mercedes has significantly improved since the start of the 2022 Formula 1 championship and showed it now has a car capable of challenging for race wins on pure pace, as Lewis Hamilton and Russell crossed the line in second and third respectively. The British driver has hailed Mercedes’ progress in recent weeks and expects further improvement once the anti-porpoising technical directive will be introduced in the Belgian Grand Prix later this month, which will most likely help Mercedes:

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“As a team we were finishing a minute behind the winner at the start of the season, now it’s 10 seconds in the last couple of races,” he said. “If we can continue on that path, we’ll definitely be in the hunt. Spa is going to be interesting, there’s a change to some of the regulations which may bring other teams toward us. I think we as a team have a lot of confidence in ourselves and faith that we are doing a great job and there’s no reason we can’t be in that mix.” – he concluded.