Alonso inspired Russell’s charge to the front at Barcelona

George Russell says he prepared for the opportunity to take the lead from fourth place at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix, inspired by Fernando Alonso who did the same in 2011.

13 years ago, Alonso – then driving for Ferrari – went from fourth to first at Turn 1 of his home race by plowing into the inside of both Red Bull drivers. This year, Russell took a similar path, but coming out of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the first corner, and says it was a decision he prepared for in the laps towards the grid after investigating the conditions probable weather overnight.

“I was kind of dreaming about it at night and what my plan of attack was,” Russell said. “I saw the weather forecast and the wind had changed to a headwind in Turn 1, which I knew meant I could brake very late and deep into the corner.

“When I was driving karts, I always remember seeing Fernando here in 2011, starting P4 and taking the lead. So, I always knew it was possible.

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“It was a calculated risk. I did four laps on the grid and practiced braking as late as possible on each lap. So I knew where the limit was, I knew how strong the wind was and I knew what was possible with the car. So it was a calculated risk and I was happy that we succeeded.

Russell ultimately finished in his starting position, fourth behind Verstappen, Norris and Lewis Hamilton, and admits it was a somewhat frustrating result given where he finished the first lap.

“I think a few things hurt us. The slow pit stop then put us behind in the middle of the stint and under a bit of pressure. And then we lost a lot of time fighting with Lando, putting on the hard tires – it was pretty lame, but it protected P3 and P4 as a team and that’s kind of what we were aiming for.

“We knew the hard tires wouldn’t be a good tire, but we wanted to share the risk between Lewis and I because I think if we had extended we could have potentially been threatened by Charles behind. So as a team , this reduced the risks.

“Obviously I felt a bit disappointed not to be on the podium, but I was there last week, Lewis did a great job and as a team we take the positives from these two really promising races .”