George Russell: “The performances are there, but there’s a bit of frustration when we’re so close”

In an interview after Saturday’s qualifying session, George Russell expressed mixed feelings after a series of impressive yet slightly disappointing performances, according to him, due to their outcome. “The team’s performances are obviously there, but there is a bit of frustration when you are so close,” he said, referring to a two-millisecond gap in the last four races. This gap, according to Russell, is the largest he has recently experienced compared to his direct competitors, making the situation even more difficult to accept.

Despite this frustration, the Briton draws positive aspects from this session. As a team, we are in the game. I think Lando (Norris) did a very good lap, ” he added, the McLaren Briton having secured pole position. However, he acknowledged that neither he nor Lewis Hamilton (3rd) were able to put everything perfectly in place during qualifying, leaving room for improvement of two tenths of a second on the table. Nevertheless, being in fourth position is a good starting point to fight for victory.

A notable evolution for George Russell

Russell also mentioned the circuits recently driven, underlining their usefulness for tests. “We have now been on three circuits. In Monaco, we were 20 milliseconds away from qualifying in third position, which could have brought us to the podium,” he explained. The British driver also mentioned that the performances in Canada have been excellent (he achieved the first podium of the year for Mercedes) and that they are now on the second row, ready to fight against Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

He also expressed his pride for his team’s constant efforts. There has been a tremendous amount of work to make this change and bring about these improvements, consistently a race or two earlier than planned, he specified.

Questioned about the recent performances and improvements of the car, Russell admitted that there was still some uncertainty, but the team was more confident than ever. “This is certainly the period during the last three years where we have been the most confident about what we have brought to the car,” he stated. According to him, the experience accumulated over the years is starting to pay off, allowing the team to better understand what makes a good racing car.

What happened to Lewis Hamilton in Q3?

A slight misunderstanding with Lewis Hamilton in Q3 was also addressed. Lewis was quite far ahead of me, but we both had our eyes on the same driver when starting the lap, explained Russell. He added that he focused on his rearview mirrors to avoid being disturbed, before realizing that his teammate was just in front of him. Despite this moment of confusion, Russell played down the impact, stating that nothing was gained or lost.

Regarding tomorrow’s race strategy, the Mercedes driver does not think that overtaking will be particularly difficult due to tire degradation on the track. “Just overtake by two or three laps and suddenly, you will probably have a four-lap advantage over the driver you are fighting with,” he explained. He remains optimistic about their chances, especially with a third or fourth strategic position to try something different.