George Russell placed sixth in Sprint Qualifying at Interlagos, and the Mercedes F1 driver admits he struggled, particularly because of the bumps on the track. However, he reveals that he appreciates the Sprint format and hopes for a positive continuation of the weekend.
“I think it was the same for everyone, the track is so bumpy, I don't know what happened when they resurfaced it. It was a difficult session because it was getting colder and colder. colder, but sixth place represents where we are. It could be better, but it could be worse. admits the Briton.
He now hopes to put in a good performance during the Sprint: “I'm impatient, because we are at the back of the group at the front, we have a little margin on the pace of the group behind us, and I like the Sprint weekends, there is some action on Friday and it's fun.”
Lewis Hamilton was not satisfied when taking stock of the day, even if the car is doing better than in free practice: “Pretty bad, but it's the same as all qualifying for me, so it's not that I'm happy, but I don't have confidence in the car, I had a lot of difficulties” declared the seven-time world champion.
“It was pretty bad, the track was resurfaced and they didn't do a very good job. In EL it was like Baku in 2022 in a straight line for us in terms of bounces, then we raised the car and it felt better so it wasn't painful, but bouncing around in the corners makes the car difficult to drive.
Somewhat resigned, the seven-time world champion wants to continue to progress throughout the weekend: “It's like that, I'm not very positive, if I can come back during the Sprint that's good. I'll try to do better in qualifying and make changes to the car and we'll see what that can do .”
