Mercedes' W15 suddenly came to life at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to give the Silver Arrows a chance of joining Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren as 2024 race winners. Russell gave himself the best possible opportunity to capitalise on the team's sudden upturn in performance by taking pole in qualifying but made a couple of costly errors on his way to finishing third in the race.
It ultimately turned out that Mercedes' first choice was, and continues to be, to attempt to lure Max Verstappen away from Red Bull, amid off-track trouble for the constructors' champions. While it's fair to say that every single F1 team principal would love to have Verstappen driving for them, the very public nature of Wolff's pursuit of the three-time world champion surely can't have been enjoyable for Russell to watch.