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George Russell blamed a pricey lunch for leaving him “half a kilo” overweight before qualifying, stating that he could have achieved fourth place on the Imola grid without it. In terms of racing driver excuses, a sandwich is quite unique, but Formula 1 qualifying is all about small margins. On Saturday, the Mercedes driver qualified in sixth place, just behind Oscar Piastri, who received a three-place grid penalty for obstructing Kevin Magnussen. Carlos Sainz now occupies fourth place on the grid due to Piastri’s penalty, and he edged out Russell by just 0.001s, lending some credibility to the British driver’s sandwich explanation. Russell stated: “I felt extremely pleased today. I felt strong throughout qualifying. P6 was the best possible result. It’s frustrating when you’re so close to the car ahead. This weekend, I’m half a kilo overweight. You never think that would make a difference, but half a kilo would put me in P5, which would be P4 on the grid. So, I’m blaming my lunch sandwich for that.” Mercedes introduced updates during the Miami and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekends. Despite lunch preventing him from achieving a higher position than P6 in qualifying, Russell was pleased with Mercedes’ progress. He stated: “The car has felt the best it has all season, especially at such a challenging circuit like this. I feel confident. We know we’re heading in the right direction.” McLaren, on the other hand, made significant strides, according to Russell, and he even went as far as to say: “Right now, they genuinely seem to be the fastest team.” As a Mercedes engine customer, McLaren has surpassed their supplier in the past year. However, instead of being discouraged by this, Russell finds it motivating. He added: “This sport is highly competitive and incredibly complex. We know where we’ve made mistakes. Unfortunately, we’ve made a lot of mistakes in recent years. We have a clear understanding of where we need to correct our overcompensation from this winter, but we’ll see where that takes us in the coming months. Everyone is bringing updates. McLaren introduced an update a few races ago, and it’s performing exceptionally well for them. Aston Martin introduced an update this weekend, and it’s not performing as expected. This demonstrates how challenging and intricate it is for everyone, but we have to believe that we can make improvements and develop in the right direction.”
