'I was pretty angry' – Russell reflects on losing out to red flags after leading initial stages of Sao Paulo GP

George Russell was left wondering what might have been after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, as his race lead rapidly transformed into an underwhelming P4 finish following a poorly timed pit stop call.

The Mercedes driver qualified strongly in second place and made the most of his position to snatch the lead from pole sitter Lando Norris going into the first corner of the race.

READ MORE: Verstappen wins chaotic Sao Paulo Grand Prix after stunning recovery from P17 as Alpine score shock double podium

He seemed to control the field in a commanding manner, keeping the rapid McLaren around a second behind him and taking advantage of the lack of DRS in the wet weather conditions.

However, the team chose to bring him in for a tyre change during a Virtual Safety Car period – a move that was replicated by Norris’s pit crew to put the race leaders on fresh intermediate tyres.

Soon after they returned to the track, a red flag was called to recover Franco Colapinto’s Williams after he collided with the barrier along the pit straight. The incident gave others the opportunity to take their pit stop without losing any time in the race, causing Russell and Norris to significantly lose out.

Asked about his thoughts on the result, he said: “Well, my take is if we’d stayed out, we would have been first at the restart ahead of [Esteban] Ocon, Max [Verstappen] and [Pierre] Gasly.

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“Leading from the front is much easier. Where we could have ended up, I don’t know, but I was pretty angry at the time because I wanted to stay out.”

The almost constant rainfall across the day led to a mixed up grid that saw Verstappen charge from P17 to P1, with the Alpine duo of Ocon and Gasly joining him on the podium.

On a weekend where the adverse conditions scrambled the expected finishing order, Russell felt like he could have taken a much better result, especially after leading the Grand Prix for over 30 laps.

READ MORE: Verstappen reflects on ‘absolutely crazy’ Sao Paulo GP after sublime climb from P17 to victory as he extends title lead

“It was very challenging, but we were comfortable,” he explained. “In those first 30 laps, everything was under control. We had a 12-second gap to P3, just managing my gap with Lando.

“Obviously those three laps were very, very difficult in the middle, and that’s why I wanted to stay because I felt very, very confident this will go Safety Car or a red flag. Inevitably, it did because it was undriveable.”