George Russell reveals ‘silver lining’ from difficult Japanese GP

Russell finished in the points in eighth after dropping down the order during a series of pit stops

George Russell says having to overtake cars to make his way back up into the points was a “silver lining” after another difficult race at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver qualified only eighth on the grid and, after being delayed in his first pit stop due to a double stack at Mercedes, fumed over team radio: “that was the worst decision we’ve made.”

The Brit dropped down to 12th but after a few impressive overtakes, recovered back to eighth to take four points away from a difficult Suzuka weekend, after coming last the preceding Sunday in Singapore.

“That was the silver lining, that was enjoyable and fun,” Russell said of the overtaking.

“But it was truly a race of tyre management. It was probably the most amount of tyre management I’ve ever done in a F1 race, considering it being wet, it’s pretty surprising.

“It capped off two bad races for us for various reasons. Yeah, we need to review and see what happened.

“I think it’s difficult for everybody. I don’t know what the race was like as a whole, but these F1 cars without DRS, you can’t overtake.

George Russell says having to overtake cars to make his way back up into the points was a “silver lining” in Suzuka (AFP via Getty Images)

“Maybe in the future there needs to be a bit of a rethink as to how you get that advantage when you’re within one second.”

The double-header in the far East was not good for Russell’s hopes of finishing second in the Drivers Championship.

The 24-year-old, currently in fourth, is now 46 points off Sergio Perez in second with four races to go.