Mercedes’ George Russell has hailed a “special” first home podium after he finished second at the 2026 British Grand Prix.
Russell recovered from an unplanned second pit stop on lap 35 to pass Lewis Hamilton for second on lap 49 when his former teammate pitted under a safety car, which was caused by Max Verstappen spinning out at Stowe on lap 47.
The race subsequently finished under the safety car which meant that Russell secured his first home podium at Silverstone, and reignited his title challenge against teammate – Andrea Kimi Antonelli who finished 16th and saw his title deficit reduced to 25 points.
Russell post-race told Mercedes’ official website that he was proud to finally feature on the podium in front of the home crowd.
“It’s always special to stand on the podium at Silverstone, and after a few years where luck hasn’t really been on my side at my home race, it’s nice to finally get a result to celebrate in front of these fans. It is always one of the most special races on the calendar for me.
“The support here is incredible, the fans are so passionate, and racing in front of a home crowd is something I’ll never take for granted. I’m grateful for all their support and delighted we could at least give them a podium to celebrate.”
Russell proceeded to reflect on the benefit of the safety car finish as he felt that Hamilton would of passed him if the safety car had returned to the pit lane as planned at the end of the penultimate lap.
“It was a race with a whole range of emotions today. At times we were unlucky, and in the end, we got a little bit lucky as well. The Safety Car played in our favour because everyone behind me had fitted fresh tyres.
“Had we gone racing again, I probably would have lost at least one position, so I’m glad it finished under the Safety Car and allowed us to bring home P2.”
The 28 year-old however feels that he still has plenty of improvement to make to get on par with Antonelli despite having overcome a tyre puncture mid-race.
“It wasn’t a particularly strong weekend from our side. I’ve been trying to understand for a while why I’m struggling, and although today felt slightly better, there are still a lot of things we can improve.
“I could feel the slow puncture developing during the race and lost around five or six PSI over a lap and a half, which made the car feel increasingly unbalanced.
“Putting that aside though, there’s still work for us to do to understand where we’re missing performance. We will analyse all the data before we head to Spa so we can come back stronger.”
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