24 September 2023 , 04:39
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Karun Chandhok has "no doubt" that George Russell will regularly fight for the Formula 1 title when given a car capable of competing for that honour.
The 25-year-old is in his second season with Mercedes and impressed despite his uncompetitive car to beat Lewis Hamilton in their first year together. The seven-time world champion has the upper hand on that intra-team battle so far in this campaign, though.
And Russell suffered a blow in Singapore last weekend as he threw away a podium on the last lap. Running third, he was pushing hard to catch Lando Norris ahead but made a small mistake, misjudging his entrance into a corner, clipping the barrier on the inside and crashing at the other side of the track.
"It was a real shame for him," Chandhok told in an interview facilitated by OLBG. But the Sky Sports pundit was full of praise for Mercedes for their race strategy which involved a brave decision to pit for fresh tyres towards the end in the hope Russell and Hamilton could catch and overtake the leaders.
It didn't work but, still, Chandhok said he felt it made for a much more exciting conclusion to the Grand Prix. He said: " I love the fact that they rolled the dice. They saw that there was a mini-phase in the race where they were there behind Carlos [Sainz, the race leader] but he wasn't quite quick enough to get past.
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"When the VSC came out, it was nice to see them take the opportunity to do something different. The easy thing to do is to just drive around doing the same thing and finish second, so I like the fact that Mercedes rolled the dice and tried to go for the win. I can't remember the last time we had four drivers fighting for the win at the end of a race! [The Mercedes gamble] set us up.
"George did a great job for 99 per cent of that weekend, including an amazing qualifying lap to get on the front row and a cracking race. It's such a shame. I've known George for a long time and he will feel the pain of that because he's a perfectionist. He sets very high standards for himself and puts a high bar for himself to achieve. He's a fantastic driver so he'll bounce back."
The crash led to some criticism of Russell. Former F1 racer Timo Glock was one of those who voiced his opinion that losing control while under pressure might be a sign that the Brit is not ready to compete for regular wins if given the opportunity, and accused Russell of "carelessness".
But Chandhok still has no doubt that, given a competitive enough car, Russell will be right up there with the best of them. He added: "Everybody needs to improve all the time – Max [Verstappen] is improving, Lewis is improving, even Fernando [Alonso] at his age is learning new things. That's what the greats do, they're always open to evolving as human beings and as drivers and athletes.
"The reality is that, if George had a car that allowed him to fight for the world championship, he would be a title contender. I have no doubt that he has the talent and the speed to be a regular title contender if he has the car underneath him to do it."