George Russell, second row with the medium
The Imola weekend featured the debut of Pirelli’s C6 compound in a race weekend, the softest in the range offered to teams by the Milanese manufacturer. The new tyre did not deliver the expected results on a flying lap: in qualifying, it reached peak performance very quickly and then left drivers helpless from the Gresini corner onwards.
The C6 had never been used with the 2025 cars, and in post-season testing at Abu Dhabi it was tried by only eight of the current 20 drivers. Unsurprisingly, many fighting for pole opted for the more familiar C5 compound. Among them was George Russell, who sacrificed his only set of yellow tyres for the race in order to use them in qualifying. It was a risk that paid off, allowing the Briton to start from third on the grid at a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult (and #63 is known for being hard to pass).
George Russell’s words
“I’m happy with third place. The car felt really strong and I know I could’ve done a bit better if I hadn’t made a small mistake on the first lap in Q3. The team made a great call by switching to the C5 for our second run. Everything clicked during the lap and I managed to get the tyres into the right window. Maybe I could’ve improved a bit more time-wise, since I had Carlos Sainz ahead in the first sector, but there wasn’t enough to challenge the two in front of us,” said Russell. “We thought the medium tyre would be fast, and it turned out to be the right choice. We had to make a small compromise for tomorrow, but it was worth it to get into the top three. I’m really pleased with the performance, because we were very close to the McLarens (137 thousandths), it was a great afternoon.”
“This is one of the narrowest circuits on the calendar, and tomorrow overtaking will be really tough. Fighting the McLarens ahead won’t be easy, but we showed good pace in our long runs during practice. If we can deliver similar performance in the race, then we have every chance to fight for the podium.”
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