George Russell says he won't "lose any sleep" over the unfortunate timings of the virtual safety car in F1's Singapore Grand Prix.
Starting 19th after a grid penalty for fresh engine components, Russell ran the medium tyre to go long and hope for a late safety car to allow him to switch to the softs and climb as high as possible to rescue as many points as he could.
The strategy was working well, with Russell climbing to seventh by Lap 40, only behind the six cars from Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren, and well ahead of Liam Lawson in eighth, meaning that if a safety car or virtual safety car came, Russell would have been able to pit and emerge ahead of the Racing Bulls machine.
However, when the VSC was deployed for Lance Stroll's stopped Aston Martin, Russell had just passed pit-entry and was forced to complete the whole lap at the reduced speed, and to compound matters, it was then cancelled just as he pitted, meaning he lost the advantage of pitting under the VSC.
It meant Russell emerged in 10th place behind Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg, and Pierre Gasly, and although he was able to pass Gasly, he could not get past the Audi of Hulkenberg.
The two points Russell scored, combined with the 15 Kimi Antonelli got for third, having been able to pit under the VSC, means that Antonelli's points lead is now 102 over Russell.
Should Antonelli win in the United States next time out and Russell finish ninth or lower, it means Antonelli will be crowned as world champion.
Reflecting, Russell was quick to put the disappointment behind him.
"The VSC ended as I came to the pits, so having 10 more seconds could have helped me out quite a lot," Russell told Sky Sports F1.
"Anyway, it was always going to be very difficult coming from the back. It's been a bit of a shame these last two weekends. It could have panned out very differently.
"It is a little bit the story of the season; everything just not going in a fantastic way. So, I'm very much looking forward to the break."
Later, speaking with assembled media including RacingNews365, Russell added that he "won't lose sleep over" the timing.
"10, 15, 20 seconds more, it would have helped the picture, but I am not going to lose sleep over that," he said.
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