George Russell rues bad luck after car catches fire at Australian GP

The Mercedes driver was leading the race before a red flag dropped him down to seventh after a badly-timed pit stop, before a power unit failure forced him to retire

George Russell insists he could have won the Australian Grand Prix had events not turned drastically against him.

Starting second on the grid, the British driver launched past Max Verstappen to take the lead of the race, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton also squeezing past the Red Bull driver to take second.

An early crash for Alex Albon resulted in Russell pitting, before a red flag meant the 25-year-old dropped down to seventh for no advantage as the rest of the field changed tyres in the pit lane.

Russell recovered to fourth when the action got going again, but a power unit failure resulted in his retirement and the 25-year-old had to speedily exit the car with the rear of his Mercedes on fire.

“When it’s not your day it’s not your day, I guess,” he told Sky F1.

“The pace has been great all weekend. Had a great qualifying, and start was great, first stint was really well managed.

“I’d have been good thereafter. We probably could have won today, it would have been difficult for him [Verstappen] to pass with Lewis between both of us.”

Verstappen, despite a chaotic finale, ended up winning the race with Hamilton coming home second and Fernando Alonso on the podium for a third race running.

Despite an improved weekend for Mercedes, Russell admitted that the Silver Arrows still have a long way to go to catch Red Bull out in front.

“They’re [Red Bull] a long way ahead of everybody, still seven-tenths ahead,” he added.

“A lot of work to do - but got to take the positives this weekend. Stood here whilst the race is still going on, pretty disappointing.”

After his DNF in Melbourne, Russell drops to seventh in the standings on 18 points – 20 behind team-mate Hamilton.

He will next be in action in four weeks’ time at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the first sprint weekend of the 2023 season.