George claims his fourth podium finish of the year as Mercedes clinch their first double podium in Le Castellet.

Under the scorching sun in the South of France, George lined up in P6 on the Medium Pirelli tyres alongside his countryman Lando Norris.

As the lights went out, George got the jump on Norris to move into P5 but got a little out of shape, allowing Fernando Alonso through and pushing him back into P6.

It wasn’t long before the Brit caught the Spaniard, reclaiming P5 from him on lap 4 of the 53-lap race and set his sights on the Red Bull of Sergio Perez ahead.

A crash for Charles Leclerc brought out the Safety Car on lap 18 and Mercedes seized the opportunity to pit George, switching him onto the Hards as he re-joined in P4.

Once the Ferrari car was cleared and the race resumed, George got to work defending against Carlos Sainz Jr but was unable to maintain the position against the hard-charging Ferrari.

As the laps ticked down, George continued to reduce the gap between himself and those ahead, capitalising on a late pit stop and five-second penalty for Sainz to move into P4.

Launching his attack on lap 42, George attempted to make a move down the inside of Perez at Turn Eight but the pair narrowly miss making contact, causing the Mexican to cut the chicane and emerge ahead of George.

Keeping the pressure on, George continued chasing Perez for the final podium position.

A late virtual safety car for Zhou Guanyu on lap 49 neutralised the race before being withdrawn at the end of lap 50.

Making an incredible restart, George sped past Perez and into third position.

George held off the advances of Perez to take the final podium position in P3.

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George Russell – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team Driver

It was a long and tough race. Our pace was strong, but we really struggled with the warm-up of the tyres on the restart and Checo was strong today. I was glad to see the chequered flag and come home P3. We're making a lot of progress and we really need to improve our qualifying performance as we're lacking consistency. We know as a team we struggle with the tyre warm-up and at the restart I struggled with the same issue. Our race pace today was reasonable and we're getting closer to the front. We're doing everything we can to improve the performance of the car and we believe we are on the right path, so we're excited what the next races can bring for us. We're making progress and there is still more to come, thanks to everyone back at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth for their hard work and dedication.

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