In the qualifications in Jeddah, the Mercedes riders made it to the final, but were far from the leaders…
Toto Wolff, team leader: “All in all, the result is in line with expectations. We know that we are inferior to rivals and we hope to progress in the next races. I think we can match Ferrari’s speed, but Sergio Perez has a much faster car. It is possible that Verstappen’s car crashed deliberately at Red Bull, so that he would win tomorrow’s race by a large margin.
Lewis lost to Russell due to problems in the first sector where his car lacked stability. You have to look at the difference in settings.”
George Russell (4th): “Because of Leclerc’s penalty I will start third tomorrow – I am happy with this result. Our car lacks downforce, but the starting position exceeds my expectations, all things considered.
Let’s see how it goes in the race. Tomorrow we need to be more competitive, but if Red Bull has such a competitive car, they can afford anything. Last year Max won at Spa, from 15th place, and now he has an even faster car. This is a credit to Red Bull – the team has done a great job and we need to do more.”
Lewis Hamilton (8th): “George has done a great job and will start from the second row tomorrow. It is clear that our car has some speed, but I have not yet found a common language with it. No matter what I do, no matter what I change, it doesn’t work the way I want it to.
Today I couldn’t get more out of the machine, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try. I will do my best to get good results.”
Source: F1 News

I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US. My work has been featured in various publications such as ESPN and The Guardian, ensuring that I am up-to-date on all of the latest news and developments within this industry.