The upgraded W14 proved efficient within the hotter race temperatures to allow Russell to leap from twelfth on the grid to 3rd place to finish a double podium behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Rain, which had hit the observe throughout Saturday follow, had threatened to disrupt the occasion however by no means materialised. Nevertheless, Russell did briefly ask his race engineer Marcus Dudley at half-distance if every other driver had reported rain when he noticed drops on his helmet visor.
However it quickly transpired that these had been his personal sweat, with Russell having not correctly tucked his hair inside his balaclava. So, when he was braking, the beads had been flicking forwards beneath the forces.
He defined the confusion, saying: “I had my hair dangling down within the first stint – I believe I did not fairly get it in my balaclava. That was annoying as a result of it was in my peripheral imaginative and prescient.
“Then, as I used to be sweating, as a result of it wasn’t in my balaclava, it was dripping down onto my face. After which after I was braking, it was coming onto my visor.
“So, with the gray clouds, after which the spots of water on the visor, I believed it was rain. That was a little bit of an embarrassing one.”
Chatting with Sky Sports activities, Russell added: “It was actually annoying as a result of I used to be sweating all through the entire race and it clearly was getting on the within of the visor so I could not wipe it. However I had all of it beneath management.”
Russell’s radio messages once more drew consideration after he dived down the within of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari into Flip 1 on lap 35 of 66 for third place.
Dudley responded with “Stable work” to which Russell requested: “Simply stable?”. Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff replied: “It was excellent”.
Explaining the forwards and backwards, Russell stated: “It was only a little bit of a joke with Marcus… Toto likes the massive radio messages of encouragement.
“Marcus and I generally say, ‘Simply be good and calm in a state of affairs, it’s generally one of the best ways to get the consequence’.
“It was a reasonably respectable transfer on Carlos. I believed it was somewhat bit greater than ‘stable’, however it’s only a good snicker!”