George Russell: “Surprising to see McLaren struggle in Q3, we’ll attack in the Sprint” | F1 China GP. George Russell finished the China Sprint Qualifying in fifth place.

George Russell ended Friday at the 5.451-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit in fifth position after the Chinese GP Qualifying. The Mercedes driver will start from the third row in the Sprint alongside Lando Norris. George Russell did not hide his surprise at the unexpected outcome of this session, which saw Lewis Hamilton secure his first pole position for Ferrari, celebrated by George Russell in Parc Fermé as shown in the cover photo.

“It was difficult to extract the maximum from the tires during Sprint Qualifying,” analyzed Russell. “At one point in SQ2, we were outside the top 10, and the next moment, we were second, even though both laps were quite similar. This shows how tight the gaps were today, but I think P5 is a result that reflects our potential. I was quite happy with my lap in SQ3, and it’s not a bad starting position. Sprint Qualifying is always tricky with so few laps in the single free practice session, so we can be satisfied with our efforts.

Let’s see what happens tomorrow in both the Sprint and the main qualifying. It was surprising to see McLaren struggle a bit more in SQ3, and we now have four different teams in the top five. We definitely have a chance to gain positions in the Sprint and challenge those ahead of us, and hopefully, we can do just that.”