A qualifying session without highlights for Mercedes, with Russell finishing in fifth place, while Antonelli could not go beyond seventh position.
A Sprint Qualifying without too many highlights for Mercedes, with George Russell not going beyond fifth place, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli, after his great performance in Melbourne, finished in seventh place. Both drivers had difficulties getting the soft tire to temperature, although the gap to first place, at least for Russell, was not that large.
These are Russell’s words at the end of the Sprint Qualifying: “It was difficult to maximize the tires during Sprint Qualifying. At one point we were outside the top 10 in SQ2, and immediately after, we found ourselves in second place, even though the two laps were similar. This shows how small the gaps are today. I think fifth place is a fairly fair result. I’m pretty happy with my lap in SQ3, and starting from there is not bad at all. Sprint Qualifying is always hard to manage, given the little track time during the single hour of free practice, so we can be satisfied with the work done.”
The Briton then added: “Now let’s see what happens tomorrow in both the Sprint and the main Qualifying. It was surprising to see that McLaren struggled a bit more in SQ3, and that among the top five, there are four different teams. We definitely have the opportunity to gain positions and fight with those ahead of us, so we hope to do so.”
Seventh place for Antonelli who couldn’t find the right window to use the soft tire. He said: “I struggled quite a bit. I think the pace with the medium tires was better, especially because in the second lap we were able to bring them into the right operating window, while with the softs, I had a lot of difficulties with grip throughout the lap, especially in Turn 1, where I lost a lot compared to the mediums. It’s a shame because I believe I could have done better, but tomorrow there’s another qualifying. I need to learn to manage the tire better, and going out straight away in Q1 in Melbourne didn’t help me understand what the ideal lap to bring the tire into the optimal window is. The positive thing about the Sprint weekend is that tomorrow I’ll have another chance.”
