Pneumonia prompted Russell to avoid jump into Las Vegas fountains
On the back of his dominant victory at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, George Russell has revealed that he had intended to jump into the fountains that sit in front of the famous Bellagio Hotel, but he feared that he would be "super ill".
Ferrari were favourites heading into the Las Vegas weekend, but they were caught by surprise on Thursday when Mercedes started to display a shocking performance.
George Russell secured pole position for the second Las Vegas Grand Prix, but his team-mate Lewis Hamilton endured a tough end to his qualifying as he made a mistake on his last two flying laps in Q3.
When the red lights went out, Russell had a great start, and although he was initially challenged by the Ferraris, he managed to disappear into the distance to secure his third career victory. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton used his W15's dominant pace in cold conditions to climb through the field and help Mercedes secure a one-two finish in Nevada.
Asked whether he wanted to jump into the fountains that sit in front of the famous Bellagio Hotel, Russell said that bad memories from last year prompted him to avoid any spectacular celebration.
"I really wanted to do it, but I was so cold after the race, I thought, like, I'm going to get super ill and this time last year I actually caught pneumonia and I was ill all the way into mid-February after Vegas and Abu Dhabi.
"So I was like, you know, in the moment I really wanted to do it, but then I was thinking back to the struggles I had this time 12 months ago because it's such a toll on the body. It's from all the champagne, to be honest, why I was soaking wet."
