george russell insists that he could have won Australian Grand Prix Events had not turned much against him.
Starting from second position on the grid, the British driver launched past max verstappen to lead the race with teammates Lewis Hamilton Pushing past the Red Bull driver to take second.
An early crash for Alex Albon resulted in Russell pitting, before red flags meant the 25-year-old fell to seventh for no gain as the rest of the field changed tires in the pit lane.
Russell moved up to fourth when action resumed, but a power unit failure led to his retirement and the 25-year-old had to exit the car at high speed after the rear of his Mercedes caught fire.
“When it’s not your day it’s not your day, I guess,” he said Sky F1,
“The pace has been great throughout the weekend. There was a great qualifying, and the starts were great, the first stint was managed really well.
“I would have been good after that. We probably could have won today, it would have been difficult for them [Verstappen] To pass along Lewis between the two of us.
Verstappen, despite a chaotic finish, won the race with Hamilton coming in second and Fernando Alonso on the podium for the third race.
Despite a better weekend for Mercedes, Russell admitted the Silver Arrows still have a long way to go to catch Red Bull up front.
“they are doing [Red Bull] Far ahead of everyone, still seven-tenths ahead,” he said.
“There is a lot of work to do – but there are positive things to take into this weekend. Standing here while the race is still underway, very disappointing.
Following his DNF in Melbourne, Russell dropped to seventh in the table with 18 points – 20 behind teammate Hamilton.
He will next be in action in four weeks’ time at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the first sprint weekend of the 2023 season.