Russell targets INVESTIGATION into 'rogue' Ricciardo after pit-lane incident

Lauren Sneath
Saturday 17 June 2023 11:43

George Russell has joked that Daniel Ricciardo was a ‘rogue Australian fan’ at the second practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver made the humorous jibe as he discussed a wet FP2 in Montreal, after running second-fastest behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Ricciardo, currently a reserve driver for Red Bull, is on the pit wall this weekend with the team.

Russell told F1 reporter Lawrence Barretto: “It’s obviously been a bit of a strange day with what happened in FP1 and then the extension of FP2. It was a reasonably productive session; I don’t think we can read too much into the timings.

“We did our low fuel qualifying prep towards the end of the session when the track was quicker. It’s bumpy.”

He then made the joke about Ricciardo, noting that he ‘stuck his finger up at me’.

Russell said: “There was a rogue Australian fan in the pitlane as well, at some point.

“I don’t know what it was, but he stuck his finger up at me or something when I was waiting to go out – it was around the Red Bull area. I need to check the video [and] see if an investigation should go into this.”

Barcelona v Montreal

Russell also discussed the key differences between the Spanish and Canadian Grands Prix as he looked ahead to tomorrow’s race.

He said: “Between Barcelona and here, they’re two totally different circuits. Barcelona [is a] super smooth, high-speed circuit.

“Here, it’s incredibly bumpy, but I do think the upgrades we brought to the car in Barcelona have helped [with] the limitations that we probably would’ve had more of with the old specification of car."

READ MORE: Russell outlines THREE reasons why Mercedes could struggle in Canada

Russel added: “We need to find out where we are going to be. I think we’re still on the tail end, especially in qualifying pace compared to Ferrari and Aston Martin.

“There might be even Valtteri [looking] quick, maybe an Alpine. We always know it comes to us on a Sunday, so that’s when it’s going to matter. Looks to be wet tomorrow. Let’s see when it rains.”

READ MORE: F1 Canadian Grand Prix weather forecast