Madring debut: Russell claims DHL Fastest Lap but gives up on World Championship

The Madring circuit made its much-anticipated Formula 1 debut at the weekend. Chaotic scenes were expected to be the order of the day on this new street circuit in the Spanish capital with its tight walls, blind corners, and high-speed sections, but the deluge of red flags failed to materialize.

George Russell struggled to find his rhythm on the new track. He changed his setup several times in qualifying, and as a result, was only in sixth place for the start. He had set out on hard tires, so it was too early for him to come in during the virtual safety car period on lap 14 in point of fact, but Mercedes switched him to a set of new mediums anyway.

The team then brought Russell back into the pits on lap 28 so that he could overtake Charles Leclerc with an undercut. On fresh hard tires, he hunted down Leclerc's Ferrari in the battle for fourth place and covered lap 49 of the 5.41-kilometer Madring circuit in a time of 1:35.587 minutes to take the track record and the DHL Fastest Lap.

But Russell was unable to get past Leclerc on a circuit where overtaking is nigh on impossible, and the resulting fifth place was another blow for this would-be champion. Having secured the win, Kimi Antonelli now has an 81-point lead on his teammate, and as a consequence, Russell has effectively written off any hope he might have had of lifting the title. "The result was far from great today," he said. "I have to keep focusing on performance and help the team win the Constructors' Championship. Realistically, I am not in the fight for the Drivers' Title."