Max Verstappen had a mountain to climb from 9th o the grid but thanks to his dominant Red Bull RB19 he still managed to make it look easy to take the Miami Grand Prix victory. Team mate Sergio Perez led the entire race until 5 laps from the end as Fernando Alonso completed the podium.
I saw Russell s reaction as wishful thinking. To him it would be amazing to be this close to a Redbull. I also think there was a bit of theatricals involved. They know how far back they are. Hamilton at one point in the first stint was asking for soft tires. Seriously? Do you want to ruin your race more than it already is.? These guys can’t be taken seriously on the radio.
If you listen to the full radio message, Russell is told erroneously by his engineer that the car was Perez, which is why Russell checked if it actually was.. the broadcast was misleading & did not include the first part of the radio
The track is not one that you can "dive bomb" as you would like. Off-line is just too dirty. It's more like "get along side before the braking zone and hope to be given room to make an easy pass"