China Sprint, Ferrari hopes for the start
The Sprint Qualifying of the Chinese GP confirmed the clear superiority of Mercedes. George Russell – once again on pole position ahead of Kimi Antonelli – led the entire competition by over six tenths, leaving Lewis Hamilton in despair, who was otherwise happy with his lap (“It was great“) but finds himself fourth and very far from the W17.
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The great advantage that Mercedes has over the rest of the grid is the engine, and it is no surprise that much of the gap is attributable to the last sector, dominated by the very long straight preceding the finish line. Tomorrow, both Russell and Antonelli will therefore have to watch their mirrors at the start, because especially Ferrari will go on the attack. Hamilton and Leclerc (sixth today) will have the advantage of the smaller turbo and will try to slip ahead as early as Turn 1. But Russell warns them: Mercedes has improved a lot compared to seven days ago.
Russell’s words
“You have to expect the unexpected, I don’t know what will happen. My practice starts have probably been the best of the season so far, I think we have found improvements”, was the Briton’s comment. “From Melbourne onwards, we have worked only on this aspect. We have focused fully on the starts; thank goodness the two next to me are both Mercedes-powered, I hope they won’t be as fast as the Ferraris. In the race, the problem could be graining, which was a major factor last year, we’ll see what we can do“.
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“The car feels fantastic, it’s great, with an engine that performed very well. Today was truly a joy to drive“, he added about his Mercedes. “Melbourne was a bit more confusing in the first laps than we would have liked, but we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. It wasn’t too bad, anyway…“.
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