Mercedes driver George Russell has revealed he knew early on in the Chinese Grand Prix that it would become a one-stop race, but did not want to give the game away over team radio.

Many had expected tyre wear to be an issue on Sunday, making the race a two-stopper in Shanghai, and while some drivers committed early to that strategy, those to only stop once were the beneficiaries on the day.

George Russell ‘didn’t want to say’ what he ‘noticed very early’ in Chinese GP

Additional reporting by Pablo Hidalgo

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff gave Russell a rare “10 out of 10” rating for his drive to the podium at the weekend as he crossed the line behind the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

But with doubts having been raised throughout the grid over strategy, with the hard compound tyres not used all weekend up to that point, Russell was one of the drivers in the field to realise only one stop would be necessary on Sunday.

He admitted to being “a bit annoyed” that going for that strategy was “so easy” and wanted more of a “50-50 decision” in the race for strategic variability.

That said, he did not want to alert other teams to his feelings around strategy at that time, in case it gave others an advantage – but added he felt it was one of his “strongest” weekends in his Formula 1 career so far.

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“It wasn’t stressful for me,” Russell told DAZN after the race.

“It was quite exciting when I saw [Lando Norris]. Today definitely P3 was the maximum and the fair result. I’m very happy with this weekend.

“It’s been one of the strongest and most solid weekends overall in F1, very consistent lap after lap. Being six, seven seconds ahead of Max in the race and 12 ahead of the Ferraris is a very strong result for us. I’m happy.

“I was a bit annoyed that committing to a one-stop was so easy. I would have liked it to be more of a 50-50 decision.

“I noticed very early it was going to be a one-stop and I didn’t want to say it on the radio, but there came a point when I had to tell the team so we could extend the first stint on the medium tyre.”

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