Russell rues "missed opportunity" in Hungary

George Russell has revealed that Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix was a "missed opportunity" for him to score some big points.

The Briton started the race only 18th after encountering traffic during Qualifying, and with the Hungaroring being a difficult track to overtake on, expectations were low heading into Sunday's race.

However, Russell managed to scythe his way through the field to cross the line in sixth place, just three seconds behind Oscar Piastri in fifth, and the Briton said afterwards that this result exceeded his expectations of what was possible.

"The strategy was telling me [before the race] that P11 is realistic, and P7 if we maximize everything, but to come away P6 on merit with no Safety Car, no VSC was a really great result, but equally proof that this weekend was probably a missed opportunity," Russell told media, including RacingNews365.com.

"I'm confident I could have been up there with [teammate] Lewis [Hamilton, who started on pole and finished fourth]. This is one of my favourite circuits. The car always performs well here, and when you've got two cars up there fighting for P2, it gives you a lot more options, and Lewis was really strong as well.

"If things had panned out slightly differently, he would have been P2 as well, so it's a missed opportunity. We'll learn from it, but the positives are we’re moving ahead of Aston Martin and Ferrari."

Russell notes McLaren's resurgence

Russell also noted the "huge" jump McLaren seem to have made in recent races, with Lando Norris taking back-to-back second place finishes after having struggled to score points earlier in the year.

"It's absolutely clear [McLaren] are contenders for second-fastest team. Very odd how Aston Martin were clearly the second best at the start of the year and they don't seem to be so competitive right now," said Russell.

"Ferrari haven't made much progress, and McLaren have made a huge jump, so if it wasn't for McLaren, we'd be very satisfied with the progress we're making.

"Moving ahead of the midfield and putting a gap on our rivals, closing on the Red Bulls, but McLaren have just totally thrown it into the mix.

"But it gives you optimism that there is potential to make exceptions."