How illness nearly took George Russell out of F1 Azerbaijan GP

George Russell battled a virus throughout the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend on his way to second in Sunday’s Formula 1 race; he has now revealed he was sufficiently ill on Friday that he’d likely have withdrawn had the race been in Singapore.

After missing Thursday’s media sessions with illness – Russell was scheduled to take part in the official FIA press conference – he felt well enough to drive in Friday practice.

His team principal Toto Wolff had explained the extent of Russell’s illness to Sky on Sunday after the race, stating that his driver was “properly poorly”, and “overnight it got worse again every single day”.

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Russell, meanwhile, said that he’d actually managed to get some sleep on Saturday after qualifying, following a difficult few nights, having qualified fifth. His strong stint on the hard tyre bought him an overcut on team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz to finish second.

“Well, fortunately, it was Baku. Even though it’s one of the toughest circuits, mentally and physically it’s maybe one of the easiest,” Russell said.

“So today I’m much better. Friday and Saturday, I was really rough. And, you know, had it been Singapore, as an example, I think I probably would have called it a day on Friday, to be honest, and probably wouldn’t have done the race.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

“It’s sort of fortunate timing. And I haven’t been ill for a couple of years, actually, so it just all sort of hit me at once these days, but I’m on the up now.”

“I think [getting second was] just staying out of trouble, to be honest. I don’t think we had a spectacular weekend.

“Carlos just did an amazing job, and Liam also did a great job yesterday qualifying ahead of us. But all of the cars who we ordinarily fight sort of made mistakes or underperformed, and we sort of picked up the pieces.

“So, obviously, really happy to finish P2 all things considered. But I think the cool temps helped us a little bit, so it’s just good to capitalise on all of those things.”

Wolff confirmed that it was “touch and go” whether Russell would be in the car at all over the weekend, especially in Friday’s practice sessions where the Briton continued to feel distinctly unwell. Future Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas was on hand in case the team needed him, but Russell chose to press on through his illness.

The Austrian added that, had Russell found slightly more performance in qualifying, he may have been able to offer Verstappen a sterner challenge at the front of the field.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Mark Thompson – Getty Images

“[George was] very impressive, considering that on Friday morning it was touch and go whether Valtteri would be in the car and it was George himself that said, ‘I’m not sure I can do it’.

“And then he recovered a little bit in the morning and decided to be in the car, and then every day he went strong. Then doing a one-and-a-half-hour race here in Baku, not putting a single foot wrong on both tyres, and that was a super merited P2.

“It’s always a bit optimistic to say that he could have given Max a hard time [with better qualifying], but our first analysis showed that we were within a tenth of Max in pure performance.

“So I think it would have been a race at the front at least – whether it would have been enough for a win, I don’t know. But the car was good on both tyres and his pace was impressive.”

Additional reporting by Roberto Chinchero