George Russell reveals health battle after ‘fortunate’ Baku recovery

George Russell was "fortunate" to overcome illness to seal second
place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, following an excellent opening
stint.  Starting from fifth at the Baku City Circuit, Russell
overtook Liam Lawson before extending his opening stint.  It
allowed the Briton to overcut Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz,
emerging from the pit lane in second.  The podium finish concluded
a personally challenging weekend for Russell, who was unwell across
the grand prix – he missed media day as a result on Thursday. 
"Firstly, congrats to Carlos and Williams," said Russell. "Amazing
result for them, I think for us, really happy to be back on the
podium.  "It's been a bit of a rough weekend for me personally, but
the car was great. Kimi in P4 as well, so happy with that." Race
day marked the best Russell had felt all weekend in the Azerbaijan
capital, who sounded incredibly unwell over the radio in earlier
sessions.  His podium and Antonelli's fourth-place finish marks a
major boost for Mercedes in the constructors' championship, who
have moved into second ahead of Ferrari. "I was pretty glad when I
saw the chequered flag, to be honest," added Russell. "I was
fortunate, I felt much better today than I felt on Friday and
Saturday.  "So yeah, looking forward to a bit of rest now. But as I
said, just happy with the result and for us as a team trying to
beat Ferrari in the constructors'. It was a good step towards that,
absolutely."