An Almost Perfect Saturday
Zandvoort was definitely a happy Saturday for George Russell. The Englishman from Mercedes won the Sprint in the morning, gaining three points in the standings on his teammate Kimi Antonelli, and then took the front row in qualifying for tomorrow’s GP, managing to snatch it from Antonelli by 31 thousandths. An important move by the Englishman, considering it was clear from the Sprint how even with these new cars the Zandvoort track is anything but friendly to overtaking. However, the pole position was taken by the reigning world champion, Lando Norris, who placed ahead of both Mercedes.
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Is Ferrari Scary?
Analyzing the qualifying result at the end of the day in front of journalists, Russell showed a hint of regret for not repeating Friday’s Sprint pole; on the other hand, the #63 Mercedes driver emphasized how important it was to have put behind – in his case even two rows behind – the Ferraris. “We knew that towards the end of Q3 the rain would come, so we decided to bring forward our program – Russell explained, before going into detail about his fastest lap – in my last lap the first half was excellent, I set my best time of the weekend. I made a small mistake in the second half of the lap, I raised the tire temperature and the lap time slightly worsened. It was a pity because I think the pole position was within our reach“.
Then came the consideration about the threat posed by McLaren and Ferrari: “Tomorrow will be an interesting race. The McLarens seemed fast in the Sprint and have a good track position with Norris. The Ferraris were also fast, so for us it’s positive that they qualified behind us. Track position is important – Russell concluded – but it will be a long Grand Prix with many interesting strategic options, so let’s see what it will bring us“.
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