After a weekend of dominance in Australia, George Russell’s Chinese Grand Prix also seemed to be on track for success, but then technical issues arose in Q3. After the green light for the final phase of qualifying, the British Mercedes driver was stuck on track due to a technical problem that was not entirely clear at the time. Despite this, Russell managed to bring the car back to the pits, where his team repaired it, allowing him to complete the lap that earned him second place on the grid for the Shanghai race.
Russell: “Kimi was phenomenal, we’ll have to respect Ferrari in the race”
The end of qualifying was a heart-stopping moment for George Russell, who, after finishing in second place, shared his experience behind the wheel of the W17. “It was all about damage limitation,” the number 63 Mercedes driver explained. “In Q2 the front wing broke, and we tried to fix that issue. Then when I went out in Q3, the car stopped, but I managed to restart it. I couldn’t shift gears. On the last attempt I went out at the very last minute, I had no battery, and I couldn’t prepare the tyres properly.”
George Russell also congratulated Kimi Antonelli on his first career pole. “Kimi did an excellent job, I’m proud of this young driver—he’s phenomenal,” George Russell said. “I also did well to secure second position; it could have gone much worse.” Regarding the race, he added: “We will have to take the guys in red into account—they’ve always been very fast at the start. I’m sure Lewis Hamilton will be very competitive at the beginning, but we have to focus on running a clean race.”
Mercedes reliability concerns? “With new cars, these things can happen”
George Russell elaborated on his single crucial lap in Q3, explaining that despite the car being repaired, it was not in its optimal window. “When I managed to go out again, the tyres weren’t in the blankets, so they were very cold. Then there was something wrong with the battery.” These issues contributed to the two-tenths deficit to Antonelli—a gap George Russell welcomed positively. “I expected to be fifth or sixth. For these reasons, I’m very happy to have done a clean lap and very grateful to be second, because it could have easily gone much worse; maybe I could have even ended up in tenth.”
Is reliability still a concern at Mercedes? “I think it’s something related to the complications of the new rules,” George Russell stated. “I don’t know exactly what happened to the front wing in Q2. I used the curb a bit too much in the last corner, and I felt the car bottom out, so the front wing broke. When starting with a new car, there are always these small problems; until now, everything had gone well, and we hope it continues like this. As I said, today it could have gone much worse.”
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