Returning to Italy, British Formula One driver George Russell finished seventh in the 2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix and claimed the fastest lap to secure seven points. Following last year's cancellation, the last time George raced at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari was during the 2022 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix where he placed fourth.

An encouraging start

George and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team had a promising start to the weekend with some strong Practice sessions.

While FP1 was compromised by a red flag, George showed good form and finished P2.

Under sunny conditions, FP2 ran smoothly without any interruptions. The team focused on long runs and continued gathering data with their new car updates.  

George began the session on Hard tyres to assess pace and car balance. He later worked on one-lap pace and ended the session with a time that classified him in fifth. Only 0.405 seconds off the top of the leaderboard, George had confidence heading into the rest of the weekend that there was still potential to unlock.

WATCH: 2024 EMILIA-ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX FP2 HIGHLIGHTS

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Another solid Practice

Saturday’s sessions kicked off with the usual FP3. While the session had a quiet start, two red flags compromised Practice time and impacted George’s Soft tyre run.

Towards the end of the session, George successfully squeezed in a strong final lap and finished the session in P5.

WATCH: 2024 EMILIA-ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX FP3 HIGHLIGHTS

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Cooler temperatures in Qualifying

Taking place later in the day, Qualifying had slightly cooler temperatures than the earlier Practice session. Due to overtaking being difficult at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Qualifying position is extremely important.

While George began on Mediums, he aborted his initial flying lap to switch to the Soft tyre. Using the softer compound, he set a solid time and went through to Q2 in P10.

In Q2, George set a good first lap on used Soft tyres. With just over two minutes to go, he came out for another lap on new tyres and improved in all sectors to get into Q3.  

On used Softs, George’s first Q3 attempt placed him P6. To complete his final run of Qualifying, George put on a new set of Softs. He qualified P6, missing out on P5 by a millisecond in a very close final segment.

WATCH: 2024 EMILIA-ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS

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Well-earned points in Italy

On a sunny Italian afternoon, George delivered a solid performance on the challenging, old-school racetrack of Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Starting from sixth, George opted for Medium tyres. He safely navigated the first lap, but the nature of the track made further progress difficult.

George was the first of the top drivers to pit. Switching to Hard tyres, he rejoined the track in P10. Shortly after, on Lap 23, he overtook Esteban Ocon on the long straight and soon after passed Lance Stroll to take P8.

On Lap 31, he gained another place by passing Perez in the Tamburello chicane.  

With 12 laps remaining, George’s second set of tyres began to drop off as a result of higher degradation than expected. Pitting from P6, George put on a set of used Mediums for the final stint. He rejoined in P7, clear of Sergio Pérez with a well-timed stop.

Finishing the race in P7, George also set the fastest lap of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, earning an additional point.

The 2024 F1 season will resume on 24-26 May for the Monaco Grand Prix.

WATCH: 2024 EMILIA-ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX HIGHLIGHTS

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George Russell, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team driver:

We had some concerns over the Hard tyre being able to go to the end so made a second pit stop. Of course that means I lost a position to Lewis, but we were able to score one extra point as a team. It was quite a lonely race for us. We’ve slightly closed the gap to Red Bull and extended our advantage over the midfield. However, McLaren and Ferrari have also found similar gains so we are aiming to bring more performance and bigger steps as soon as we can. We’re never going to be satisfied with P6 and P7, but this is where we are at the moment.

Everyone is super motivated and it’s very inspiring to see. Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth are working so hard to bring improvements and it’s great to see. We’ve got to keep on pushing. This weekend we maximised the package we had, and we will continue to aim to do that moving forward.

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