Russell pleased with podium after troublesome Miami weekend

Mercedes’ George Russell was left pleasantly surprised by his podium finish in the Miami Grand Prix after he spent the majority of the round struggling to feel comfortable with his car.

The Briton made no secret of the fact that he had felt off the pace ever since the end of FP1 on Friday, pushing himself to take P5 in Qualifying for both the Sprint and the Grand Prix.

While all eyes were on his team mate Kimi Antonelli, who was able to claim his maiden Sprint pole position and found himself just 0.067s adrift of Max Verstappen in Q3, Russell continued to face unexpected challenges in the Mercedes.

He didn’t necessarily solve these, but he and the team did manage to time his strategy to perfection around the race’s Virtual Safety Cars, helping him to cross the line in P3 and claim his fourth Grand Prix podium of the season.

2025 Miami Grand Prix: Russell emerges from the pits ahead of Verstappen to take P3

“[At the start of the day] I thought there was an opportunity because we were going to be bold with the strategy,” Russell explained. “It’s not often you see a driver in the top five start on a hard tyre.

“Obviously we were slightly fortuitous with the [Virtual] Safety Car but that’s how the game plays out and that’s the risk you take.

“Nevertheless, when Kimi pitted, when Max pitted, I found three or four-tenths of pace and I was in a really great place.

“I’m really proud of the result because this weekend I’ve been in a bad place, I’ve not been happy. I’ve not been enjoying driving this weekend, but we made it count when it mattered.”

‘We made it count when it mattered’ – Russell on his drive to the podium in Miami

Crucially, the timing of his pit stop saw him emerge ahead of Verstappen, who had previously lost the lead of the race to eventual winner Oscar Piastri.

From there, it was simply a matter of keeping his rivals behind rather than trying to pursue the McLarens – at one point, the battle for the final podium spot covered both Mercedes, Verstappen and the notably fast Williams of Alex Albon.

But days after Russell identified Mercedes as the season’s third-fastest team, he took the chequered flag a whopping 37 seconds behind the lead McLaren, which is the biggest gap between P1 and P3 since Lando Norris dominated the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.

“To be honest I'm really happy to come away with P3 because I’ve been struggling this weekend personally, always on the back foot,” Russell said after the race. “Ultimately when it mattered, I got a really good result today. Well done to McLaren – they’re just down the road.”