George Russell delivered one of his strongest qualifying displays in recent weeks to secure a front-row start for the Sprint at Formula 1‘s Qatar Grand Prix.
Russell will start between the two McLaren drivers after Oscar Piastri edged him to pole position, with Lando Norris to line up behind the pair in third place.
The Briton has revealed that he hadn’t expected to be a contender at the front at the Lusail International Circuit based on his slump to 14th place in practice.
“No, to be honest. I was P14 in practice. No, it’s just nice,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“My qualifying hasn’t been great recently. The last fast [was] Singapore; for a while, I haven’t had a good session, so I was pretty happy to get a couple of good laps under my belt.
“I was always sort of there or thereabouts throughout the session, so that was nice. This track, honestly, is such a joy to drive around. It’s so quick. The grip’s so high, so it just feels nice.”
But even starting on the front row, the Briton believes his final classification may be decided by the time the field funnels through the first corner.
Since 2024, the FIA has positioned the main straight DRS activation point 305 metres after Turn 16 – 100 metres later than the 2023 measurement, which was already revised mid-weekend to shorten the zone. With the detection point unchanged, drivers have repeatedly voiced concerns that the reduced assistance leaves overtaking at a premium at Losail.
Russell says he raised the issue directly in the drivers’ briefing and fears Saturday’s Sprint will highlight how restrictive the current setup is.
When asked how confident he was of hanging on, he offered a blunt assessment: “I don’t want to put a downer on it, but Turn 1 is probably going to be where we end up, really,
“We briefly spoke about it this morning in the drivers’ briefing about why the DRS hasn’t been extended, and I hope maybe after the Sprint they can adjust it if needed for the race.
“I think it will be challenging to overtake, but obviously we’re in a good starting position, so, yeah, we’ll take it.”
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