George Russell has quipped that his close call with Max Verstappen prior to his last run stopped him setting the fastest qualifying lap at Formula 1‘s Qatar Grand Prix.
Russell appeared on course to make it consecutive pole positions when he pumped in a time that was good enough to seize a provisional top spot in the final session.
However, Verstappen then wound up 0.055 quicker faster right at the death to displace Russell until he received a one-place grid drop for an incident on their out laps.
Russell’s aspiration to lower his initial benchmark was compromised before it had even begun when he had to take evasive action to avoid a slow-moving Verstappen.
The Briton ended up tagging the gravel situated on the track’s outskirts, prompting him to state on the radio that Verstappen’s movement had been “super dangerous”.
Asked whether he could picture where he lost the time to Verstappen, Russell told media including Motorsport Week: “No, not really, to be honest.
“My first lap was really strong. I was really pleased with that. I think it was a couple of tenths clear and then I just didn’t improve on that last lap.”
“Obviously, I had a really scrappy out lap with a near collision with Max and I ended up going through the gravel two corners prior to opening my lap so it was not a good start,” he recalled.
“So that was probably 55 milliseconds!”
“So, you know, it’s just great to be in this groove at the moment for front row starts, which has been really pleasing considering where we were three or four races ago.”
“And the race pace this morning [in the Sprint race] looked great.
“Max did a great job. Red Bull seemed to turn it around a little bit since yesterday, but let’s see what tomorrow brings.”
Mercedes pace not a surprise to Russell
Verstappen’s demotion has made it successive poles for Russell, who converted that advantage into a dominant race win at the Las Vegas Grand Prix one week ago.
He has contended that Mercedes’ recent resurgence hasn’t been unanticipated based on how competitive its W15 has shown to be on circuits with smoother asphalt.
“Well, I think these last two races, the circuits have played in our favour,” Russell expressed.
“We know when we can get the car low and stiff on a smooth track, it works pretty well.
“Brazil, we didn’t actually have the pace. You know, we were very slow in the Sprint Qualifying.
“But of course it was a wet qualifying on the Sunday morning so that evened things out a little bit. So I think we flattered ourselves a bit in Brazil.
“But these last two races, when we really analyse it, I don’t think it’s a surprise the car is performing as well as it has shown.”
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