Mercedes, in a not too noisy way, had already shown in the free practice sessions at Monza that it could be the main rival of McLaren, at least on the single lap. And so it was.
George Russell proved to be the papaya cars’ closest rival, third, just 113 thousandths off the time that saw Lando Norris secure his fifth career pole position.
Russell produced an excellent comeback with a final lap of Q3 good enough to put himself behind the Ferraris, Red Bulls and teammate Lewis Hamilton.
“It went well,” Russell admitted after qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. “It’s better than I expected because Q1 and Q2 were difficult for me. Luckily we saved the best for the end.”
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“We are not too far from McLaren, which is very fast at the moment, but we are working very hard to catch up with them. I am very happy with today’s result.”
The top 6 in qualifying at Monza were all very close, just over a tenth apart. That’s why Russell expects a close race ahead of tomorrow and a chance of winning.
“I think tomorrow will be a close battle, we are all very close. We expected this kind of competition. If you do a good job you really have a chance to win, so I’m very excited for tomorrow.”
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