George Russell had a strong start in the sprint race of the São Paulo Grand Prix Formula 1, even reaching second place. However, he couldn’t hold the position for long and, for most of yesterday’s race in Interlagos, he spun in the fourth place where he finished.
According to Mercedes’ #63, the mistake was in the aspect of the tires: ‘I had a good first lap, but after that, it was a struggle. We expected the tire degradation to be less than it turned out to be. We certainly didn’t expect to be the fastest, but we were surprised by the difference in pace compared to the front runners. It was all due to the tires. Sometimes we seem to be able to get them working, other times we have difficulties. It’s a shame, but clearly, we made mistakes where others didn’t. We need to rectify that for the main race’.
Although admitting a decrease in his optimism, Russell believes he may find a more favorable scenario this Sunday: ‘The track will be a little cooler on Sunday, which may swing things more in our favor. It’s obvious that we will learn things from the Sprint race as well and make some changes. It’s likely to be a race with at least two pit stops, but I’m not as optimistic going into the Grand Prix race as I was on Saturday morning’.
