George Russell (Mercedes/2nd): “I’m at a real disadvantage against Verstappen”

George Russell misses out on his fourth sprint pole by 0.120 seconds: second on the grid for the short Formula 1 race on 10 October, behind Max Verstappen.

This is no mean feat, because, as a reminder, George Russell is driving the Mercedes specification that was used in Malaysia prior to the Bahrain Grand Prix, whilst Kimi Antonelli is driving the new one – but it’s still playing up – leaving the championship leader in seventh place.

The Englishman spoke about his sprint qualifying: “We were competitive all day; I was fastest in free practice, then third in SQ1 and fourth in SQ2.”

“But we knew that Max is incredibly fast here. He also opted for the strategy of only going out on track very shortly before the end and doing just one fast lap.”

“Normally we say: a street circuit is always best right at the very end, but then you still run the risk of getting caught up in a yellow flag or in traffic.”

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“We tried two runs, and I couldn’t say our tactics were wrong. I’m happy with second place.”

“As far as the car specification is concerned, the old one I’m driving is obviously not that bad. Let’s see what Kimi can do with the new version in the sprint. We still believe the Evo package is an improvement. But the stopwatch always has the final say, and it doesn’t look too good for the new version there.”

“It won’t be easy to snatch the lead from Max in the sprint. We’ve got a significant difference in grip here between the left and right-hand sides. Last year, the drivers on the pole-sitter’s side had a big advantage. Of course I’ll try to overtake Max, but I also want to make sure I can defend my position against Leclerc.”