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Mercedes technical director James Allison revealed the close possibility that George Russell would have emerged behind Carlos Sainz after his stop during the 2025 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Russell was battling ill health during the weekend, which saw him qualify in P5 with his teammate Kimi Antonelli right ahead of him.
Holding up P2 for most of the race was Carlos Sainz, who was running the Williams in an unprecedented position this season. He managed to tail Max Verstappen, but Russell was eyeing to overcut both his teammate and Sainz to clinch P2, and he managed to do so in the final stages.
However, as Allison recently revealed, Mercedes' calculations showed that George Russell could've actually missed out on Carlos Sainz, and would have emerged P3 in the race with a failed undercut.
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"That was an exciting time in that race," Allison said (via RacingNews365). "We were watching lap after lap with George right on the bubble of being able to make that overcut work."
"We actually thought that he was a little bit behind, and that he was going to come out right on the tail of Sainz and have to get by on the track. So it was a fantastic thing to see him emerge in front, and by a second or so."
He further explained that the quick in-lap from Russell and the perfect pit stop executed by the team helped the Briton clinch the second position.
"And it was one of those pit stops where everything came together. It wasn't just that the guys on the guns and the wheel handling, that all that went as per choreographed and really slick. That did happen, but it was more than that."
He added"
"If you'd watch George's in lap, he absolutely smoked the in lap and really took a lot of time away, much more than we expected, in the way he got round the second half of that in lap."
George Russell managed to finish the race in second place, with Carlos Sainz taking Williams Racing's first podium since the 2021 season. Coincidentally, it was Russell who had scored the podium finish for Williams in that season, during the Belgian GP.
Mercedes overtakes Ferrari in Constructors' Championship after George Russell's crucial podium finish
Mercedes has been in a battle with Ferrari to clinch second place in the Constructors' Championship for a long time. While McLaren is leading the standings and would seemingly clinch the title after the Singapore GP, both the Italian outfit and the Brackley-based team have been tangled in a strong battle.
Although George Russell has also won a race this season, which has not been the case for either of Ferrari's drivers, several inconsistencies hampered their position in the championship. However, with Ferrari dropping down to P8 and P9 in Baku, and Russell finding the podium with Antonelli down in P4, the team managed to take second place in the standings.
A four-point gap divides the two teams currently. With seven races remaining in the season, they are expected to get into a closer battle, and it could move to the final race in Abu Dhabi, much like the 2023 F1 season.
