Why Russell’s second place is a show of strength
Being beaten by your teammate is never a cause for great happiness, but the second place in qualifying behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli was welcomed by George Russell. The English Mercedes driver, after taking pole and the Sprint victory, had more than one problem during qualifying that risked making Sunday’s race complicated for him.
First, damage to the front wing in Q2, then a technical problem that saw him stop on track and then manage to restart the car on the third attempt. And finally the lap, the only one, in Q3 done in the very last moments, which still gave him a start from the front row of the grid.
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Russell explains the troubles he had in qualifying
“I limited the damage. In Q2 my front wing broke, then in Q3 we went out but I stopped on track. The car wouldn’t restart, I couldn’t change gears. And at the start of the last lap I had no battery, I didn’t have the tires up to temperature, nothing at all… The team did a great job to get me into this position, because it could have gone much worse and so I’m happy. I risked having to start tenth and I expected to be further back.”
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