23/05/2025 10:15
George Russell has described Max Verstappen's opening lap overtake
on him and Oscar Piastri in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as the
"overtake of the year so far", with his initial thought in the
moment having been "bugger". After initially making a poor start
from the front row, Verstappen found himself behind Piastri and
Russell on the run into the first corner. However, with Piastri
defending from Russell on the inside of the circuit, the Red Bull
driver braked extremely late and swept around the outside of the
pair. It was a staggering move, which allowed the four-time world
champion to cruise into distance to claim his second win of the
season. Russell was hugely impressed by Verstappen's move, which he
believes further illustrates the talent of the 27-year-old.
"Overtake of the year, definitely," Russell told Sky Sports F1 .
"Without doubt, it's, yeah, best overtake I've seen in a hell of a
long time. "To be honest, I thought my race start in Barcelona was
pretty good, but his one was, yeah, it was pretty spectacular. So
it was a bit frustrating from my perspective, I made a really good
start but there was nowhere to go. "And I felt at that point my
only hope was to fight with Max in that race. How wrong we were.
Just to see him zoom around Oscar like, bugger! But that's why he's
one of the best-ever Max. You can't take that away from him. "Even
with our personal relationship, or anything that happened in the
past, you still have respect for what he does on the racetrack.
That was an amazing move, and he had an amazing weekend. The car
was super quick, and I think they surprised everyone."
