George Russell will start from the second row of the grid in the Bahrain Grand Prix of Formula 1. The Mercedes driver was in the fight for the top positions in qualifying and finished third, 0.286s behind Max Verstappen’s pole position (Red Bull) and 80 milliseconds behind the rival immediately ahead of him – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
The #63 did not hide his satisfaction with the progress shown by Mercedes, stating to the official championship website: ‘It seems that after two years in which regardless of what we did with the setup we always had problems, now we have a car in which Lewis [Hamilton] and I feel much more comfortable, we can attack, we can be more aggressive with the setup. We start from third, I am very happy with the work that the whole team has done and excited about what is to come tomorrow’.
About the race, Russell anticipated: ‘I think realistically there are not always gains in this sport and it is always a balance. We have changed substantially since the tests and have drastically improved qualifying pace. Did that come at the expense of some race pace? Probably. Are we still in a good position to fight for second place? Absolutely!’
Finally, the British driver highlighted the balance in F1 behind Verstappen and Red Bull: ‘I think if you take Max and Red Bull out of the equation, I believe Formula 1 has never been so exciting with four teams separated by two tenths. I think it will be like this throughout the season; the small details will be decisive for your starting position. It feels like the time of Formula 2 and Formula 3. I am very excited about the season, about tomorrow, it was a good start’.
