Russell had launched past pole-sitter Max Verstappen in the early exchanges in Melbourne but, when the Safety Car came out due to Alex Albon’s crash, Mercedes pitted their driver to provide hard ꦇtyres.

A r𝓡ed flag shortly afterwards meant Mercedes’ decision backfired and Russell eventually retired with a power unit problem.

Mercedes chief technical officer🐲 James Allison explained: “That early in the race it’s right on the cusp of whether a Safety Car stop is going to help you out or leave you worse off.

“When that happened, we cho♛se to split our cars. 

“We brought George in but left 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lewis Hamilton out because at that point it’s very finely balanced, wh꧃ether you are going to get a benefit from the stop or not.

“By bringi🔯ng one in and not the other then you are splitting your risk. It’s like an e🐼ach-way bet.

𝓀“It looked pওost that decision that we probably did the right thing with George to bring him in, just from getting the best out of a cheap pit stop under the Safety Car. 

“But all that was rendered completely null and void when the red flag w🌠as then pulled out just a fewꦓ seconds later.”

Allison said about where Russell might have finished without his engine issue: “He was obviously a little ill-served by that red flag, he lost a few slots on the grid instead of benefitting from the Safety Car stop that we hoped we would gi🧔ve to him.

“But he would have had a strong race. He showed good pace all the way through the weekend, good in qualifying, strong start, good race pace and was set fair for a good result ev💧en if he had been ill-served by the fꩲortune of the red flag.”