Austrian Grand Prix: George Russell Praises Mercedes Persistence After First Win Of Season

Russell began the race in third but benefitted from a collision caused by Max Verstappen, who was hit with a time penalty, with Lando Norris, who was forced to retire.

The Briton took full advantage, speeding past the stricken vehicles to claim just his second career win.

After finishing in the top five in each of the last three races, Russell was pleased to continue building on Mercedes' momentum.

"It's no secret with Red Bull and Max, and McLaren with Lando are still a little bit out in front," Russell said. "But we are always putting ourselves in that third-place position in the last couple of races.

"If anything happens up front, we will then pick it up. What an exciting time for us.

"We are riding a bit of a wave at the moment; these last three races have been incredible. I think realistically we probably could have won the race in Canada, but this makes up for one too many mistakes on my side."

The collision between Verstappen and Norris came on lap 64 of 71, with both drivers vying for the lead, but Russell was not surprised by it.

"[Verstappen and Norris] were going for it. I couldn't believe how close we were to Lando and Max," Russell added. "We were only about 12 seconds behind, and I knew [the collision] was a possibility. You are always dreaming.

"It was a tough fight out there at the beginning of the race just to hold onto that P3 and I saw on the TV Max and Lando getting pretty hard. I knew Lando would be wanting to get that race win.

"The team have done an amazing job to get us into this fight, and you've got to be there to pick it up the pieces and that's where we were."