Russell: I let the team down

George Russell says he is disappointed with himself after disappointing the Mercedes team with a mistake that cost him third place in the final lap of the Singapore race.

The Briton took advantage of the virtual safety car activated by Esteban Ocon's Alpin failure in the second leg of the race to change tyres, gaining the advantage of newer tires over leader Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris in second. But the Mercedes driver was unable to find a way past his compatriot in McLaren, and in the meantime, his teammate Lewis Hamilton was chasing him from behind, who told the team that George should start driving faster.

But the pressure was clearly too much, as on the last lap he hit the wall at the tenth corner, breaking the front suspension of the car and ending the race in the protective tires at the track.

Russell drove much better than his teammate throughout the weekend, so the disappointment when he was left without a good result was all the greater. "I have no words," he said after the race. "Such a long race that was very physically demanding. It was hard to stay focused. Carlos did a good job of holding back the column, which prevented us from taking any chances with a different tactic. We would have been maybe half a car length short of the win if I had passed Lando when I had the chance and I think we could have passed Carlos as well.

In the last lap I misjudged the line by just a millimeter and the race was over. I feel sorry for the whole team. I feel I let the team down as well as myself. But that's racing. It's hard, but we love it.”

Photos: Mercedes