Eighth time in Q3, fifth position on the starting grid in tomorrow’s race. Despite a queue and a half earned thanks to the penalties of others, the Spa Saturday certainly cannot bring a smile to the lips of George Russell. On the track that in 2021, just in qualifying, sanctioned his infinite talent in front of the eyes of the world – second position on a flooded track driving a Williams – today the # 63 is chewing bitter. For the whole summer, Mercedes had made it clear that they believed in a rapprochement in performance against Ferrari and Red Bull. Today instead offers a completely different panorama: the two Brackley riders in fact have almost two seconds behind Max Verstappen and were even beaten by the two Alpines.
An approach to the race of this kind certainly does not help Mr. Consistency to be optimistic in view of tomorrow: “We have a hard time understanding how we were on pole in the last race and instead today we find ourselves 1.8 seconds behind. Obviously, the gap is not just about Max. We were 6 tenths behind the Alpines – Russell a bitterly pointed out Sky Sports F1 – when temperatures are low, we always struggle. This year we saw it in Imola and on Fridays when it was cold. We can’t get the tires to work. It’s quite frustrating, but I’m confident we’ll have a lot more pace tomorrow than the Alpines, McLarens and even Williams. However, we will be at least half a second behind Red Bull and Ferrari“.
The penalties on the grid by Verstappen and Leclerc open – theoretically – the space for a place on the podium. But Russell believes little; the Englishman is in fact convinced that the two title contenders will move up the grid fairly quickly. “I think Max will win the race anyway – the Mercedes driver clarified – I don’t know where it starts from [15esima posizione, n.d.r.] but with the pace he has he will still win the race. And then Charles will probably come too. In all honesty, it is unlikely that we will be on the podium tomorrow. There are still Carlos and Checo. We have to work tonight and understand our weaknesses“.
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