“After a very difficult Friday, we would have likely taken P4 in the Grand Prix,” Russell said. “Our pace in qualifying however made us believe we could achieve more. Today was no doubt a difficult race for us, both challenging in terms of our pace but also physically.
“The McLarens were very impressive and in another league to us, whilst Max [Verstappen] had the legs on us. We were able to hold off the Ferrari of Charles in the closing stages, so it was very much an evening of damage limitation. Given the pace of the car, that was the very best we could have achieved.”
Russell looked visibly drained in the aftermath of a tough and gruelling race, calling his cockpit a “sauna” midway through the evening. The race was made more difficult by the fact there was no Safety Car for the first time in Singapore’s history. That gave the drivers no respite across the 62-lap outing, the effort of defending late on from the charging Ferrari clearly taking its toll on the Brit.
Hamilton likewise was left exhausted by a race in which he had to fight his way back through the midfield after his earlier than ideal pit stop to get rid of the soft tyres, with only Daniel Ricciardo also trying the unfavoured alternate strategy for RB.