Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and fifth in the sprint of the Qatar Grand Prix. The team assesses the result with cautious optimism and prepares to continue the battle in Sunday’s race.
George Russel (4th): “I really enjoyed it! The first round was a bit crazy. Before the start I thought about overtaking my opponents on the Medium in turn six. I knew I would have a lead in the first laps, so I’m happy I could stay ahead of Oscar Piastri.
It was an unpleasant surprise to me how quickly the Soft tires lost their effectiveness, so I was fortunate that the Safety Car was often on track. If I hadn’t done this, I wouldn’t have earned any points. This happens during sprint weekends, when there is only one training session and little time to work on the tires. If I started on Medium I would still finish fourth, so nothing is gained and nothing is lost.
It’s nice that we had an advantage over Ferrari today in terms of race pace. I was riding on the same tires as them, but I was riding faster. On Sunday we will compete with McLaren. It will be an interesting race in terms of strategy, so we will see what we can do.
And finally, I want to say that Max’s title is fully deserved. An incredible achievement – congratulations. We have to improve to give Red Bull a fight next year.”
Lewis Hamilton (5th): “In the first laps I was driving quite slowly on Medium tires. I knew that the degradation of the competitors’ soft tires would be high, and this would allow us to return to the fight. Was I sure I would finish fifth? No, but I kept hoping so.
I tried to position the car as best as possible on the track, stay out of trouble and continue step by step. The car proved difficult to drive, but we had a good pace. I know we have the speed in the race, but I have to work on qualifying!
Tomorrow I will start third, which is much better than today’s position, but I will have to fight to keep this position against McLaren attacks. They will start a little bit behind and we will do our best.
Congratulations to Max on winning his third title. He had a great season and deserved the result. It would be great if we could fight him tomorrow.”
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.
