George Russell celebrated his victory in the Formula 1 Australian GP, highlighting the difficulty of the race and the work of the Mercedes team, which secured a 1-2 finish right at the opening of the 2026 season.
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“It wasn’t a simple afternoon, but this victory has a very special taste! Congratulations to the whole team, they did an incredible job and this victory is for them,” Russell stated.
The Briton explained the challenges faced during the race: “We had a difficult and chaotic start and, from there, there was a back-and-forth of overtakes between Charles (Ferrari’s Leclerc) and me. Maybe I could have used my energy more intelligently to defend when I overtook him for the first time, and that cost me when he passed me back. It was quite stressful inside the car, but I hope it provided a good show for the fans,” he said.
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Russell also commented on the strategy that led to the victory: “We stopped quite early when the Virtual Safety Car was deployed and we knew we would have to manage the tires from then on. We weren’t sure if the one or two-stop strategy would be faster, or what the correct decision would be to lead us to victory. The strategy team made a great choice and I’m very happy that we secured the victory and the 1-2 finish. It’s a perfect way to start the season, and we’re going to enjoy this moment, but we’re still at the beginning of the championship and we know our competitors will try to close the gap quickly. It wasn’t easy, so let’s see how we do in China next week,” the British driver concluded.
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