{"id":315097,"date":"2025-08-03T17:29:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T17:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/315097\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T17:29:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T17:29:12","slug":"george-russell-delighted-with-podium-return-in-hungary-after-dicey-battle-with-leclerc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/315097\/","title":{"rendered":"George Russell delighted with podium return in Hungary after \u2018dicey\u2019 battle with Leclerc"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">George Russell was \u201creally happy\u201d to come out on top in a risky battle with Ferrari\u2019s Charles Leclerc in the late stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix, earning himself his first podium finish since he took victory in Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">The cooler track conditions seen in <a class=\"text-brand-hot-red underline decoration-1 hover:decoration-[3px]\" href=\"https:\/\/www.formula1.com\/en\/results\/2025\/races\/1266\/hungary\/qualifying\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Qualifying<\/a> played directly into Mercedes\u2019 hands and helped the Briton to secure fourth position on the grid \u2013 this, combined with the team reverting to an old set-up, meant that Russell was able to end the session half a tenth behind polesitter Charles Leclerc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Making the most of his <a class=\"text-brand-hot-red underline decoration-1 hover:decoration-[3px]\" href=\"https:\/\/www.formula1.com\/en\/latest\/article\/russell-enjoys-big-step-forward-with-p4-in-tricky-hungary-qualifying-as.6wbvGmM4q28Hl1T9yKDfFb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strong Qualifying result<\/a>, he took advantage of Lando Norris\u2019 unsuccessful challenge on Oscar Piastri, surging past the McLaren to claim P3 on the opening lap of the race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Although Norris was able to overtake him later on \u2013 with the two avoiding a scuffle as Russell peeled off into the pits \u2013 the Mercedes driver kept up the charge, overtaking Leclerc for the final podium spot with eight laps remaining.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Asked if he was proud of the result, Russell said: \u201cYeah, really happy with the race today. Obviously yesterday Qualifying was a bit of a surprise\u2026 this whole weekend has been a bit surprising for everyone, but I\u2019m so happy to be back on the podium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">\u201cIt was a bit dicey with Charles at some point!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Leclerc did not hide his frustration over the radio after he lost the race lead to McLaren\u2019s alternative strategy, especially as his performance seemed to decline drastically in the last stint of the race <a class=\"text-brand-hot-red underline decoration-1 hover:decoration-[3px]\" href=\"https:\/\/www.formula1.com\/en\/latest\/article\/leclerc-explains-extremely-frustrating-loss-of-pace-in-hungary-after-losing.4CvcuJTWwwDSFtRh7W6KFL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">due to an issue with the chassis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">This irritation came to a head when Russell got into the DRS zone of the Ferrari and launched himself down the inside of Turn 1, with Leclerc fiercely defending and prompting the Briton to complain that he moved under braking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Russell tried again at the start of Lap 62 and managed to squeeze through amid some more risky defending from Leclerc, which resulted in a five-second time penalty for the Ferrari.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">\u201cIt\u2019s one of those when you sort of commit to a bit of a divebomb, if the driver in front moves, you\u2019re already right on the limit of grip and there\u2019s not much room for manoeuvre,\u201d Russell said after the race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">\u201cI think we made contact on the second time, but just glad to get through it. It\u2019s a nice way to go into the break.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">\u201cIt\u2019s definitely better than the races we\u2019ve had so far, so I\u2019m really pleased with that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Russell was \u201creally happy\u201d to come out on top in a risky battle with Ferrari\u2019s Charles Leclerc&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-315097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114966020973589600","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}