George Russell feels like an ‘idiot’ after rewatching footage from US Grand Prix

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George Russell was battling for much of the Sprint race ahead of the United States Grand Prix on a difficult day.

The 19-lap race was tricky at Circuit of the Americas as the track temperature was much hotter than on Friday, putting extra emphasis on smooth driving and tyre management.

Russell finished in fifth place after battling the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, as he lost ground over the race.

He started on the front row alongside Max Verstappen and lost the place to Lando Norris at Turn 1, which set the tone for the rest of the Sprint.

Russell admitted when speaking to Sky Sports F1 that he wasn’t pleased with his battle against Ferrari as both cars eased past him.

George Russell admitted he felt like an ‘idiot’ as he was passed the two Ferrari cars

Tyre management was very important over the Sprint, particularly on a weekend when teams have less data available than most weekends, as there is one practice session rather than three.

Russell was passed at Turn 15 in the final sector of the lap at the United States Grand Prix by the Ferraris as his Pirelli tyres began to give up.

He was struggling with putting the power down out of the heavy traction zones, which made it difficult to keep the Ferraris behind.

The Mercedes driver admitted while watching the video of his battle in the final part of the lap that he felt he would lose the places easily.

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He said: “You can’t really see in your mirror. I did leave the door pretty wide open. By that point, I was so slow. I felt like a bit of an idiot, to be honest, but they were going to pass me one way or another.

“But I was just really struggling out of turn 13. I couldn’t get on the power. As soon as I saw that, he put that nose in… As soon as I saw that he put that nose in, I had to just concede at the corner, really.

“It was downhill from there. Yeah, not my finest moment, I got to be honest, but the tyres were already gone by that point. As I said, they were coming past me.”

Mercedes have struggled at the US Grand Prix in the hotter temperatures

Mercedes have had a mixed weekend so far as Russell narrowly missed out on pole position for the Sprint, while Lewis Hamilton qualified outside the top five.

Tyre management was a key weakness for the team during the Sprint, as Russell suffered with his front left tyre while Hamilton’s rear tyres began to give up.

It is very important to manage the tyres effectively over a race distance as it opens up strategy options for the driver, which is important when battling other cars.