Mercedes star Russell addresses EMBARRASSING 'sweatgate' during Spanish Grand Prix

George Russell has laughed off a series of team radio messages during the Spanish Grand Prix, including one where the Mercedes driver mistook sweat from inside his helmet for rain.

Russell had a superb race in Barcelona after he finished third, having initially started down in 12th.

However, his race will also be remembered for a peculiar radio message where he believed it was raining at turn 5 during the race – only to realise that it was sweat from within his own helmet.

READ MORE: Russell reveals the BIG improvement made to Mercedes after stunning podium

The Mercedes man addressed the incident after the race, saying: "Firstly with the sweat, I had my hair dangling down in the first stint, I think I didn’t quite get it in my balaclava and that was annoying me because it was in my peripheral vision.

"And then as I was sweating because it wasn't in my balaclava, it was dripping down onto my face. And then when I was braking, it was coming onto my visor so with the grey clouds, and then the spots of water on the visor I thought it was rain.

"So that was a bit of a bit of an embarrassing one."

Russell had another memorable radio interaction after he overtook Carlos Sainz during the race. After passing the Ferrari driver down the inside, his race engineer Marcus Dudley said: "Solid work," before Russell quipped back: "Just solid?"

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff then got involved to say "It was pretty good," in a light-hearted series of messages. Russell clarified after the race that it was all in good faith.

"I think it was just a bit of a joke with Marcus," he said. "We have a bit of back and forth I think. Toto likes the big radio messages of encouragement.

"And Marcus and I sometimes say...just be nice and calm in a situation is sometimes the best way to get the result. But yeah, it was a pretty decent move on Carlos and yeah, I thought it was a little bit more than solid, but it's just a good laugh."

READ MORE: F1 Race Engineers: The stars of team radio with Hamilton, Verstappen and co

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