George Russell celebrated a hard-fought and tricky P2 at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver up against it as his W16 suffered not only a DRS issue but also brake-by-wire troubles.

In fact, it seems there was only one problem that Mercedes feared could also hamper him, “lose the dash”, that didn’t happen.

DRS, dash, B-B-W – George Russell almost had a hat-trick

Russell lined up third at the Bahrain Grand Prix, having lost his front grid slot when he was slapped with a one-place penalty for driving to the end of the pit lane before the FIA communicated an official restart time after a red flag in Q2.

He reclaimed second place into Turn 1 before the race settled down into a straight win for Oscar Piastri with Russell needing to hold off Norris to secure second.

He did so, and against the odds.

39 laps into the 53-lap Grand Prix, Russell’s name began to tumble down the timing screens, but it wasn’t an off, a crash or a breakdown. It was an electronic problem with his W16 that initially hit his DRS while even his dash and his brake-by-wire system was affected.

The extent of his troubles were revealed in his race communications with his race engineer Marcus Dudley.

Dudley: We have an issue affecting DRS. It’s a timing issue only. I give you a default to override it.
Russell: Give it to be down the back straight.
Dudley: Once we do it, you have to wait until I tell you you can use DRS.
Dudley: George, there is a chance we lose the dash. Just keep driving as normal if that happens.

Russell, by pressing the radio button, opened the DRS when he wasn’t supposed to.

Russell: I accidentally opened the RS. I closed it straight away, gained nothing.
Dudley: Correction George, if we lose the dash, we won’t be able to use any of the buttons on the steering wheel, just shifts.

DRS though, turned out to the least of Russell’s problems as his Mercedes then suffered brake-by-wire issues.

Russell: B-B-W passive.
Dudley: AFM, that is real.
Russell: It should still brake as well as normal, no?
Dudley: Blue default 10. Blue default 1-0.
Russell: What’s going on?
Russell: Do I need to change brake lines? It’s back, it’s back.
Dudley: Affirm.
Russell: It’s gone again. B-B-W. Gone again.
Dudley: Blue, default 10, on off again.
Russell: Do I need to keep the blue default stand on? If it happens?
Dudley: Yeah.

Russell still managed to hold off Norris to take second place, crossing the line 0.8s ahead of the McLaren.

Dudley: Get in there. Yes! Well done, mate.
Russell: Three wheels on my wagon.
Russell: I think that blue default 10 button might have been worn out. Get a new one for the next race.
Dudley: Alright, tell me about it.
Russell: The most challenging part is the brakes were just on and off. They were consistently not working. It would have been OK. Just didn’t know what I was going to get.

Speaking after the Grand Prix, the Briton reckons if the race had been one lap longer, his issues would have cost him second place.

“We were having all sorts of failures, and basically we did an override on the DRS,” he said.

“And on one lap, I clicked the radio button and the DRS opened. So straight away, I closed it again, backed off. Nothing gained or lost more than I [would have] gained.

“It was only open for a split second, so goes to show you the amount of issues we were having.”

“It felt all under control,” he continued, “and then suddenly we had a brake-by-wire failure.

“So suddenly the pedal was going long, and then it was going short, and I didn’t know what was going on.

“The steering wheel wasn’t working properly, so it was really hard fought to keep Lando behind. I think one more lap, he would have got me pretty comfortably, but nevertheless, really, really pleased.”

Read next: Lewis Hamilton discovers Ferrari breakthrough after key Bahrain GP experience