Power unit prevented Russell from performing a 180-degree spin: I had no boost

It was certainly one of the most bizarre incidents of the season. Interlagos has a unique pit exit, a narrow funnel that follows the Senna S. Spinning here means effectively blocking the entire pit exit. That is exactly what happened to George Russell.

The British driver switched to slicks along with the others, but somehow underestimated the fact that he was heading onto a very wet and twisting stretch of tarmac on cold tyres. George spun and, in trying to turn the car through 180 degrees, only managed about 150. He even had to reverse and put considerable strain on his right-front suspension, which scraped against the barrier along with the tyre.

“I’m not too sure what happened there,” said Russell after the race. “I couldn’t do the full 360. I had no boost, just some of the quirks of this power unit.”

“Main thing for today is that we got the Constructors’ Championship. Huge amount of work from all of the team to achieve that. Obviously, we would have liked to have been a bit more in style, but we got it over the line, which was the most important,” George added.

Despite this mistake and his subsequent drop down the field, Russell eventually crossed the line in fourth ahead of Antonelli, who had problems of his own and also spun. Without that mistake, George’s weekend would certainly have been viewed as a positive one. The Englishman beat his team-mate in qualifying and in the race, although that was overshadowed by defeat to McLaren and Red Bull, who may not necessarily have had the fastest cars in Brazil.

Above all, though, Russell is trying to rediscover his old self in the closing stages of the season, something he largely managed this weekend. “I had really strong pace in the race, especially on the soft tyre. We both struggled on the intermediate at the end. That was quite strange,” the Mercedes driver continued.

“But, yeah, feeling a bit more like myself again. But this weekend, I think it was definitely pure pace there. Last weekend in Mexico, it was sort of just one lap at the right time. But looking forward to Vegas,” Russell concluded.