Russell had launched past pole-sitter Max Verstappen i♔n the early exchanges in Melbourne but, when the Safety Car came out due to Alex Albon’s crash, Mercedes pitted their driver to provid🌄e hard tyres.

A red flag shortly afterwards meant Mercede🦂s’ 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 wors꧂e off.

“W☂hen that happened, we chose to split our cars. 

“We brought George in but left 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton out because at thﷺat point it’s very finely♏ balanced, whether you are going to get a benefit from the stop or not.

“By bringing ♔one in an🥃d not the other then you are splitting your risk. It’s like an each-way bet.

“It looked post that decision that we probably did the right thing with George to bring him in, just from get🤪ting 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 was then pulled out just a few seconds later.”

Allison said about where Russell might have fi🐓nished 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 give to him.

“Bu𒅌t he would have had a strong race. He showed good pace all the way through the weekend, good in qualifying, strong start, good race꧒ pace and was set fair for a good result even if he had been ill-served by the fortune of the red flag.”