George narrowly misses out on a podium to end the Belgian Grand Prix in P4.

After a series of grid penalties, George lined up in P5 on the Medium Pirelli tyres under the beating sun.

As the lights went out, George maintained his position until contact ahead between teammate Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso moved him into P3.

With the safety car deployed, the race was neutralised until lap four of the 44-lap race until the track was deemed clear.

As the race resumed, George defended against Alonso to maintain his third place but was quickly overtaken by the hard-charging Max Verstappen.

Pitting for fresh Mediums on lap 14, George utilised his fresh rubber to pass the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and move into P4.

Capitalising on pitstops ahead, George moved up into the podium places in P2 before taking his second pitstop to switch onto the Hard tyres for the final 14 laps.

As the laps continued to tick down, George gained ground on Carlos Sainz Jr. for the final podium place but was unable to catch the Spaniard, ending the day in P4.

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George Russell – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team Driver

I have mixed feelings right now because had you told me last night we will be two seconds off the podium on merit and pure pace, I'd have said that's a good recovery. When I was closing in on Carlos at the end, a second a lap, I thought here we go - we're in for a really good shot here. But then I just had two really scrappy laps and got the tyres out of the window. When the tyres are in that sweet spot, the car is transformed but as soon as I lost them, I knew the podium was game-over. Overall, considering where we were, P4 and two seconds off the podium - not too bad. Today our race pace was probably better than the Ferraris; Carlos started on pole, was leading the first stint and we closed him in both times. So at worst, I think we were equal with Ferrari today, but as we know, it's swings and roundabouts. What is clear is, Max is cruising away at the moment.

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