George Russell wanted to switch to slick tyres two laps earlier than he did during the F1 Sprint in Austria.

Russell finished eighth after being the first to brave the switch to dry weather tyres on a damp Red Bull Ring.

He took to the pits on Lap 15, leaving him just nine laps to claw back the 20 seconds he lost traversing the lane.

Once up to speed, he quickly began lapping seconds faster than those ahead, rising from last at the end of Lap 16 to eighth at the chequered flag.

However, it could have been higher, Russell argued, had his team called him in two laps earlier.

“I said for the two laps prior, ‘if this was qualifying, I’d be boxing now for slicks’,” he said.

“Then it’s down to the team because then it’s up to them to determine if the risk is worth it.

“We had a good pace, even on the inters, so we may have made one or two more positions.”

Soon after Russell emerged on track, officials enabled DRS – it had been disabled in the opening laps due to the wet conditions – helping his cause as he hunted down those ahead.

The changeable conditions energised the race, with Russell leading the charge when it came to those braving the switch to dry tyres.

Had it not been for the weather, it could have been a far more monotonous encounter.

“The race would have been very boring if it was dry from start to finish,” noted Russell.

“I still believe the Sprint race is just a little bit too short.

“In dry conditions, I think that the medium tyre can do 30 or 40 laps; for a 24 laps race, it would have been an easy race for everyone.

“So I hope to see a small change somewhere,” he added.

“I think it’d be quite cool to mandate a soft tyre with a Sprint race.

“When you’re on the softest tyre, the Sprint tyre, as you could call it, it would give a bit more action.”

By finishing eighth, just 0.009s behind Esteban Ocon, Russell picked up the final world championship point on offer, a strong result given he’d started as the lead Mercedes from 15th on the grid.