Despite achieving his third pole position of the season, Mercedes’ driver George Russell is in what seems like his best racing weekend of the season.
Russell was no less than 3rd in any of the practice sessions heading into Saturday’s qualifying and, hence was dubbed as one of the pole-position candidates.
Knowing that the team was in a prime spot for a great Saturday result, Russell still felt surprised about the pace they had during the weekend.
“It feels incredibly good to be back on pole. We’ve been so quick all weekend and I just knew coming into that last Q3 lap that’s going to be the one that counts.”
Cool conditions favor Mercedes’ 2024 challenger, although the pole-sitter wanted to delve deeper into its reasons.
“We’ve got to do some deep dive in to understand why it’s been so quick so far this weekend because it was a real surprise.”
Russell also got praised for doing a part in his strategy during Q3 when he decided to go out on last to heat tires better and use them in a more evolved environment of a track tarmac.
“I mean, you’ve got to put it on the table sometimes. And I felt confident in myself.
I knew if I did a clean lap, it would be enough to secure, you know, from a row. So to get pole position, it’s incredible.”