Russell was one of several drivers to go for the soft, with the Ferrari, Alpine and Aston Martin drivers among those to join him.
From fourth on the grid he passed medium starters Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, and then relieved Oscar Piastri of the lead.
However his tyres began to suffer and after losing the lead he even suggested that he made a pit stop for fresh rubber under the safety car.
He was told to stay out and eventually fell back to his starting position of fourth. After the flag he insisted he had no regrets about the strategy.
“We didn't go in with the mentality that it was going to be a punt or a gamble,” he said when asked by Autosport about his tyre choice. “We didn't use the tyre in practice, we thought the tyre was similar to the medium.
“And we thought we needed to gather the data ahead of ahead of tomorrow. Had we started on the medium, I think we would have finished in the same place.
“We knew that the soft tyre would offer about seven metres into the first corner. But it's so easy to fall back when you get a bit of wheelspin, you just drop like a stone. I had that in the last race, I think it was a really bad start. We took advantage.
“I don't think we've ever seen a sprint race where the tyre has degraded like this.
"So with all of the information we had from the previous 10 or 12 sprint races we've had, we've never had a race like this, so the decision wasn't stupid, it wasn't a gamble, it was made with the right process. It just didn't work out.”
Source: Autosport