George Russell was on course to give Mercedes their best performance of the season, potentially even a victory at the Australian Grand Prix.
After qualifying just 200ths of a second behind Max Verstappen, Russell swiftly overtook the Red Bull on the first lap, as he took the lead of the Grand Prix, exciting Mercedes fans who thought this showed signs of a comeback for the team.
Unfortunately for the Brit, despite a strong start, his race began to rapidly began to unravel due to issues outside of his control.
On Lap Seven, after Alex Albon’s Williams careened off the track into the barrier, sending gravel spraying across the circuit, a safety car was deployed.
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Russell’s team swiftly made the call to bring him in from his P1 position for an early pitstop onto the hards, attempting a one stop that would have allowed him to overtake rivals who pitted later in the race.
However, a red flag was waved, bringing all cars back to the pits and leaving Russell in seventh place.
Russell’s race went from bad to worse shortly after the race resumed when he had to retire in front of the pitlane exit due to an engine fire.
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Having examined the car after the race, Mercedes discovered that the fire had been caused by a piece of debris getting in one of the car’s internal parts, sparking the disaster.
The Silver Arrows had been set for, at least, a P2 and P3 finish before the incident but had to just settle for Hamilton’s P2, as the seven time world champion held off his Aston Martin rival Fernando Alonso.
Russell’s retirement left him in P7 in the Drivers’ Standings on 18 points, while Hamilton sits in P4 with 38 points.