Russell 'exasperated' by McLaren's sprint tactics

George Russell will have had an astonishing race and “infuriating” against the McLarens during the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix F1 sprint.

The Mercedes driver, qualified second on the grid, was unable to challenge Lando Norris for first place at the start and it was on the contrary he who was surprised by the other McLaren, driven by Oscar Piastri. From there, with the two papaya cars at the controls, a team race pattern quickly took shape: capitalizing on his excellent pace which kept him safe, Norris worked to help as much as possible his teammate to resist Russell.

To do this, all means were good, offering both aspiration but also DRS, if necessary slowing down the pace so that Piastri remained in contact. Faced with this collective race, Russell did not have 36 opportunities to take advantage of the Australian and each of his attempts at the first corner ended in a more or less authoritarian door closing.

In the last lap, he watched helplessly as the exchange of positions between the two MCL38s, decided unilaterally by Norris, like a return of the favor after Brazil.

“It was very tight at Turn 1 several times,” Russell explained as he came out of the cockpit. “It was obviously very frustrating at every turn [avec] Lando who was slowing down, [et] who gave the DRS to Oscar. Obviously, I understand why they did that, but when you're on the track, you fight; we want to give everything and offer a great race to the fans. It was quite infuriating. But nonetheless, you know, third place this afternoon is the most important thing.”

I think [que Norris] had quite a few in reserve.

Asked how the tires held up during the 19-lap race, Russell added: “They definitely let up a little bit. To be honest, I struggled towards the end, but I think Lando had a good rhythm. Oscar was struggling a bit, so it would have been nice to to be able to compete against Lando and see what his real rhythm would have been. I think he had quite a bit in reserve, [mais qu’il] was just giving Oscar the DRS.”