Tears of joy were flowing for George Russell as he reacted to his first-ever victory in Formula 1.
The Brit took the chequered flag at the Brazilian Grand Prix, having started the race at the front following his Sprint success on Saturday. It was Mercedes' first victory of a difficult season and made even sweeter by the fact Lewis Hamilton crossed the line right behind him in second place.
Before he had even got out of the cockpit of his car he was crying, telling his team as much over the radio. He managed to stem the flow of the tears long enough to speak to the TV cameras and reflect on a day he will never forget.
"I'm speechless, you know on the in lap, all of these memories sort of come flooding back in," said Russell. "Starting off with my mum and dad in go-karting and going through with all the support I've had from the rest of my family, my girlfriend, my trainer and my manager.
"Then obviously with the likes of Glynn who gave me the opportunity to get on the programme with Mercedes and James Vowles and Toto Wolff – the list is endless. I can't thank them enough and am super proud. A huge thank you to the whole team for making this possible.
"It's been an emotional roller coaster this season. The race was really tough race, but I felt in control. Lewis was super fast and then when I saw the safety car come out, I thought: 'this is gonna be a really difficult end and there's so much pressure'."
Meanwhile, Hamilton was gracious in defeat to his Mercedes team-mate as he paid tribute to the hard work done by everyone at Mercedes to deliver their first win of the year. "Huge congratulations to George," said the delighted seven-time world champion.
"What an amazing drive he did today. He did amazing in qualifying yesterday, so he truly deserves it. To my team, so proud of everyone back at the factory and here, this is an incredible result. We've worked so hard through this year to get a one-two, or to get a win, so this is hugely, hugely deserved from everybody so big, big thank you."
There was an incident in the race between Hamilton and Max Verstappen, which saw the two collide and the Dutchman pick up a five-second time penalty for his part in it. The Mercedes driver did not want to dwell on that moment for too long, but did say: "What can I say? You know how it is with Max."
