Disappointment for Russell, who finished only fifth, while Antonelli secured sixth position with satisfaction.
The two Mercedes cars will start from the third row in tomorrow’s race at Suzuka, but with different moods between the two drivers of the Silver Arrows. George Russell, who spent much of the time in between the two McLarens, couldn’t go beyond fifth place after making a mistake in Turn 1 on his second attempt. Meanwhile, Kimi Antonelli, steadily improving throughout the qualifying session, finished sixth and will start alongside his teammate.
The statements from the two drivers were quite different, starting with George Russell. The Briton commented on his qualifying session: “Finishing in fifth place today is definitely a disappointing result for us. We’ve been competitive throughout the weekend, and I really believe we had a car capable of fighting for the front row. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to put together the lap at the crucial moment. As the session progressed, the track was cooling down, and on the last attempt, the tires were too cold at the start of the lap. I struggled in Turn 2, losing a couple of tenths which prevented me from improving my first-run time.
Although there’s some disappointment, starting fifth isn’t disastrous. We’ve had a good pace all weekend, and I have confidence in the car. We’ll see what the weather brings tomorrow: whether it’s dry or wet, I think we can fight for the podium. If it rains, this circuit becomes even trickier. We saw in Melbourne how chaotic a race can get, so regardless of the conditions, we’ll try to take every opportunity.” .
On the other hand, Kimi Antonelli expressed satisfaction after securing an excellent sixth place. His words at the end of qualifying: “I have to say I’m pretty happy, especially considering how difficult the free practices were, where I was completely lost. I came into qualifying with very little confidence, but thanks to the work done with the team and the great support from Bono and the advice from Valtteri, I was able to make steady progress. The Q3 lap wasn’t perfect, in fact, it’s still far from ideal, but given the circumstances, I can be satisfied. Sixth place is definitely not a bad result, even though there was certainly more potential to extract from the car, especially in the first sector where I struggled a bit.
There are many positive aspects to take away from today, but also a lot to work on. This evening, I’ll thoroughly analyze the data to understand where I can improve and tackle the race in the best way. The weather forecast calls for rain, and overall, that might not be bad news: it could make the race interesting. I’ll keep building my confidence on track, and I hope tomorrow we can bring home some good points.”
Photo: X Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team