Russell and the man he replaced at Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas, went wheel to wheel at Turn 12 as the Silver Arrows star dove down the inside of his Kick Sauber counterpart and consolidated his position by using up all of the track on his way out of the corner.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff labelled a five-second penalty given to George Russell as a “total joke” in the early stages of the US Grand Prix. Russell, who started in the pit-lane, was making his way through the field when he went for an overtake on Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.