Russell rues red flag limiting Q3 prospects in China F1 qualifying

George Russell bemoaned the red flag in Q2 preventing him from having two attempts on new tyres in the final stage of qualifying at Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix.

Russell was the sole remaining Mercedes driver in the pole position shootout amid team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s mistake at Turn 14 that saw him be eliminated in Q1.

However, Russell ended up eighth for tomorrow’s race, with the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas the cars situated behind him at the end of Q3.

But the Briton has revealed that the stoppage in the second stage due to Carlos Sainz’s spin meant he had to abort his initial Q2 lap and use a scrubbed set later on.

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“The car was feeling okay out there, it was a little bit unfortunate in Q2 with the red flag,” he said.

“I obviously didn’t get my lap in at the beginning and there was a really strong lap and it would have meant I’d have had two sets of new tyres in Q3. So a knock-on effect.

“It’s not an excuse. It could have been slightly different for us had we had the two new tyres. Nevertheless, I think anything can happen tomorrow.”

Russell at least managed to avoid not being present in the top-10 shootout on this occasion, having succumbed to a surprise exit in 11th place in Sprint Qualifying.

The ex-Williams racer has disclosed that he took advantage of the new regulation on Sprint weekends permitting set-up tweaks to improve the balance of his W15.

“Yeah we made quite a few changes to be honest,” he revealed. “You know we want to try and learn as much as we can still about this car.

“We got a good read in the Sprint Qualifying [and] in the Sprint race. We wanted to make some changes, time will tell tomorrow if it’s an improvement or not.”

Despite starting behind the two Ferrari cars, Russell suspects that Mercedes’ battle in the race will be with the McLaren drivers and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

When it was proposed to him that Ferrari appeared ahead in long-run trim compared to the other teams chasing Red Bull, Russell said: I think that’s a fair assessment.

“I think the Ferraris are a little bit ahead of us I think the fights with McLaren and Fernando.”