George Russell’s qualifying session in China was far from trouble-free, as he experienced a broken front wing in Q2 and subsequently came to a temporary stop on the circuit at Turn 5 during Q3. Despite having secured victory in the preceding sprint race starting from pole, he appeared considerably less confident throughout what turned out to be a challenging qualifying period.
Mercedes states that they are continuing to investigate the root cause of the problem that led to Russell’s vehicle engaging anti-stall mode soon after exiting the pit garage, stopping on the track, and subsequently getting stuck in first gear once he managed to restart it. As the clock wound down, the crew essentially employed the classic IT troubleshooting method of powering the car down and then back up, which involved cycling through different standard configurations, exchanging the steering wheel, and performing a system reset.
Upon restarting, the car initially remained locked in first gear; however, an additional reset allowed it to shift into neutral and resume normal gear operation. Russell left the pit area with slightly more than two minutes remaining and successfully secured the second position on the grid for his Mercedes, trailing his teammate Kimi Antonelli by 0.222 seconds.
Russell commented, “The session was simply wild starting from the conclusion of Q2.”
“The front wing sustained damage, and the team was uncertain whether it was indeed broken. I was quite certain it had, and that caused some tension concerning the situation and replacing the front wing.”
“Immediately upon heading out onto the circuit, I could sense an issue; the car stopped on track, and when I attempted to restart it, it failed. It eventually restarted some time later, I returned to the pits, and then found I couldn’t change gears.”
“And then, clearly, we managed to get onto the track with only moments to spare. Therefore, I am genuinely delighted to be in this position currently, as I could very easily have ended up around P10 without setting any time at all.”
George Russell admitted he was lucky to be on the front row alongside team-mate Antonelli
Photo by: Dom Gibbons / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Russell’s delayed departure from the pit garage left him with solely the out-lap to get ready for his competitive timed attempt.
He elaborated, “That was the best I could possibly have done, but my lap began with depleted battery power and cool tires.”
“Nevertheless, I am extremely thankful to be here in this moment. The primary objective was simply to register a lap time.”
“I recognized that Kimi had shown great strength, and the situation on my end was far from ideal. Consequently, it was more about bringing the car to the finish line and ensuring I began the race from a respectable spot.”
“Achieving P2 significantly surpassed my expectations, especially considering I started the lap with zero battery charge and no warmth in the tires; I had anticipated a much lower position on the grid.”
“Therefore, as I previously mentioned, I’m simply very pleased to be in this situation.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
