George Russell said he’s made significant improvements with his qualifying performance after claiming a front row place for the second time in three rounds.
The Mercedes driver originally took third on the grid for this weekend’s grand prix but was promoted to second after Lando Norris lost his final lap time due to a track limits violation.Since the summer break, Russell has only qualified outside of the first two rows on one occasion. He said he feels much more comfortable in his Mercedes than he did earlier in the season.
“It’s been interesting, the second half of the season the quali pace has been really quite exceptional compared to the start of this year and I’m feeling really confident in the car,” he said.
Lewis Hamilton qualified one place behind his team mate, though the pair only reached the fourth row of the grid at Suzuka two weeks ago. Russell said they’d qualified higher than they predicted at the Losail circuit.
“This weekend we definitely weren’t expecting to be lining up P2 and P3 on the grid for Sunday, so that is a real pleasant surprise,” he said.
“Of course Lando was ahead of us and his marginal off wasn’t the difference for his pace advantage. So we know that we’re half a step behind McLaren.
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“But equally our fight’s with Ferrari at the moment, that’s our aim for the remainder of the season and we just need to secure as many points as possible to seal that off.”
Russell was eighth fastest in the weekend’s sole practice session which was held earlier in the day when conditions were much hotter. He said it became clear soon after qualifying began on a cooler track that their car was more competitive than it had originally seemed.
“In Q1, I actually made a mistake on my lap,” he explained. “I lost three tenths so I think I could have been right up there in the top three.
“In Q2 I ran the used tyre so I think P5 was a strong result. So it was no big surprise to be fighting for the top three in Q3.”
However he was reluctant to predict how competitive they might be in the race. “The track is just constantly changing,” he said.
“The very first lap in qualifying was, I think, two seconds quicker than the quickest lap in FP1, which was probably the biggest jump I think I’ve ever experienced in Formula 1. So we don’t know what tomorrow and Sunday is going to bring.”
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Zann (@zann)
6th October 2023, 23:47
Mr Saturday, after all :)