George Russell: The speed of the car was a pleasant surprise

George Russell won qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix and will start from pole for the third time this season. At the press conference, the Mercedes driver said cool weather and the characteristics of the fast city circuit were part of the reason for securing a front row start.

Q: George, brilliant last round. How happy are you that you were able to make such a great attempt on a difficult track?
George Russel: Yes, I’m very happy, especially considering the car has been fast all weekend. The team led every session, but when you reach the final qualifying, everything that happened before no longer matters and the pressure increases.

On the first attempt I made slight contact with the wall, after which I had to replace the front wing. I wasn’t sure if I could complete the last lap. But I continued and it turned out to be very strong, especially the first two sectors. I am very happy to have won pole position.

Q: You asked the team to release you as soon as possible to try. How much have the track conditions improved in the last session?
George Russel: A lot of. I think in the time that elapsed between the first car starting its lap and the last, the track became more than a tenth faster. This is probably the biggest difference of the entire season. And I wanted to make the best of it, even though the risk was very high. I understood that if there were no yellow flags, I had a chance to qualify on the front row.

I would like to thank the guys in the pits who quickly replaced the front wing. As I said, I hit the wall on the first attempt and wouldn’t have been able to make it to the deciding lap at all.

Question: You are starting from pole for the third time this season, although Mercedes has had problems with speed in recent races. Why is Mercedes so fast this weekend?
George Russel: I must admit that this speed was a pleasant surprise for all of us. We must analyze the reason, because this route is not like the others. We didn’t do anything special to prepare for the Vegas round, but for some reason the weather and track conditions played into our hands. And I wonder why, but we agree.

If we get to Vegas quickly, it doesn’t mean much, but we need to investigate the reasons. One of my pole positions was in Canada. It was also very cold there and the characteristics of the circuit were similar to those of a city circuit. I think we can talk about a trend.

Question: What are your chances in the race? How fast is the car over a long distance?
George Russel: I think everyone had problems over a long series of laps on both Medium and Soft due to the granulation of the rubber. We already saw this picture last year, but I expect the Hard line-up to be very resilient. But no rider rode Hard this weekend, so we’ll learn as we go. You will have to endure the first part of the distance and move on.

Anything can happen in Vegas. A long race awaits us. Last year the safety car was on the track several times, and it was also there during the final round in Brazil. You know, right now I’m very happy, but I’m not taking anything for granted for tomorrow.

Q: The warmest weather of the weekend is expected on race day. Will this affect the speed of the car somehow?
George Russel: I think this only helps with rubber granulation. We expect granulation on the Medium tires from lap 15 and lap 20, but this won’t have much impact later on.

Question: Is it true that you were able to get some sleep before qualifying?
George Russel: Yes, I went to sleep because my body needed it. I always listen to my body and try to sleep when I can. And if I have to sleep, I sleep.

Besides, I had nothing to do. The car drove well, I was happy and we didn’t change the settings for qualifying. So the best you could do was sleep.