{"id":572058,"date":"2026-03-29T12:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/572058\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T12:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:44:08","slug":"japanese-grand-prix-george-russell-laments-safety-car-timing-after-fourth-place-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/572058\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Grand Prix: George Russell laments safety car timing after fourth-place finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Russell<\/a> has said a differently timed safety car would have put “victory on my side” after his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli<\/a> won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.<\/a><\/p>\n

Italian teenager Antonelli claimed a second win in as many races, moving him top of the drivers’ standings, helped by a pit stop in Suzuka when Ollie Bearman crashed out of the race at over 300 kph.<\/a><\/p>\n

The timing of the subsequent safety car derailed Russell’s hopes as he slipped from second to third — before a battery problem then allowed both Lewis Hamilton<\/a> and Charles Leclerc<\/a> ahead.<\/p>\n

Russell got back past Hamilton to finish fourth, but he now trails Mercedes teammate Antonelli by nine points.<\/p>\n

George Russell is confident a differently timed safety car would have seen him win in Japan.\u00a0Photo by Marcel van Dorst\/EYE4IMAGES\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

His troubles arrived a fortnight after he broke down in qualifying in China to allow Antonelli a free run at pole, which he duly converted into his maiden win.<\/p>\n

Russell, a pre-season championship favourite, said: “At the moment, it is just one thing after the other.<\/p>\n

“Racing can go for you, but it can also go against you too, and at the moment, every issue we are having is on my side of the garage and I am the one going through that pain.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes people have problems in practice. We have not had a single issue in practice, but I have had problems in qualifying instead. It is the luck of the draw with these new cars.<\/p>\n

– Max Verstappen considering retiring from F1 at the end of 2026<\/a>
– Carlos Sainz: FIA ignored driver warnings before Oliver Bearman crash
–<\/a> When is the next F1 race, and why is there such a long break? <\/a><\/p>\n

“But it is race three of 22, and I am not concerned at all. It is a long year, and I know I have got what it takes to bounce back. I won’t dwell on it.”<\/p>\n

Mercedes have made a strong start in this this year’s world championship, having won all three races so far.<\/p>\n

Russell started the season on the front foot with victory in Melbourne but Antonelli, in just his second season on the grid, has struck back with two triumphs.<\/p>\n

Asked if he was worried the momentum is starting to shift towards the Italian, Russell replied: “No, not at all. If the safety car came out one lap earlier today, the victory would have been on my side, and I am confident in that.<\/p>\n

“In China without the qualifying issue, I was three tenths ahead in sprint qualifying so maybe I could have been on pole there and won. It is just how it turns out.<\/p>\n

“We have got a four-week break so there is no momentum to be carried over. We will reset and go again for the next race.”<\/p>\n

Kimi Antonelli’s win moved him top of the drivers’ championship.\u00a0Photo by Clive Rose – Formula 1\/Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Russell outscored Antonelli comfortably in his first season with the Brackley side. However, the 19-year-old has emerged as a serious championship contender.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, he became the first Italian driver since the great Alberto Ascari in 1953 to win consecutive races, and the first teenager ever to lead the title race.<\/p>\n

“I’m not thinking too much about the championship,” Antonelli said. “Of course it’s great, but there’s still a long way to go.<\/p>\n

“We need to keep raising the bar because George is very quick, and for sure he’s going to be back at his usual level.”<\/p>\n

Information from PA contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Russell has said a differently timed safety car would have put “victory on my side” after his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-572058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}