George Russell concedes to 'high-risk' stakes in Sao Paulo F1 pit-lane spin

George Russell has explained what happened during his costly pit-lane exit spin at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

With the field starting on intermediate tyres, the track began to dry over the opening stint, with Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz the first to pull the trigger on Lap 15 for the change to red-marked slick dry soft tyres.

Russell was in the gaggle of cars which stopped next time by from fourth place, with Lando Norris, Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson, and Oscar Piastri also stopping at the same time.

Russell was set to rejoin behind Norris, as he had entered, but on the pit-lane exit, he spun and briefly blocked the track as Hadjar, Lawson, and Piastri filtered past, with Russell losing a further place to Nico Hulkenberg's Audi. 

Ultimately, the time lost, around 30s, prompted Russell to switch to an attempted one-stop strategy for dry tyres, not stopping when the rest of the field did when the slicks had worn out. 

Then, when the rain returned in the closing stages, Russell was able to save a pit-stop, and came in for the intermediates, as he took fourth place, to help Mercedes seal the constructors' crown. 

Reflecting, Russell spoke of the surprising upside of the "high-risk" decision.

"I'm not really too sure what happened," Russell told media, including RacingNews365 of the spin in the pit-lane. 

"I went quite high risk because I smelt an opportunity and paid the price. 

"It is in those moments you either gain a lot or you lose a lot, and this time, it went against us. 

"Ironically, because of that, I didn't pit [for a second time for softs], and it kind of brought me back into the race.

"I showed really strong pace on the soft; we had the fastest race pace, and it has been quite a while since I've had this race pace, so I will take the positives out of that."

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Russell explains late pit-stop

Explaining further about the late change to intermediates from the slicks, Russell praised his team and pointed to the turnaround after his fury at being told to abort his lap in qualifying that he felt was good enough for pole position. 

 "It was a huge benefit. The team did a great job there, and I think it just highlights the challenges of this sport, and [in qualifying], we got it wrong," he said.

"[In the race], they got it perfectly, and the other drivers got it wrong, and that is just how it goes, and it is always highlighted more when it goes wrong than when it goes right."