George Russell: “I wasn’t expecting to have that much pace”

After a thrilling sprint at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team has come out on top after the race saw George Russell take a spectacular first win for the team and Lewis Hamilton take the third position which, thanks to Carlos Sainz Jr‘s grid penalty, will see Hamilton bumped up to the second position, securing a front-row lockout for the Brackley-based team.

Russell started off strong on the soft compound tyre, overtaking the Haas F1 Team pole sitter Kevin Magnussen and Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen. Russell drove superbly around the track, quickly extending a full two seconds lead from Verstappen after successfully executing an overtake on the Dutchman, third time lucky.

The remarkable pace from the W13 came as a surprise to Russell as the driver stated he “didn’t expect to have that much pace” during the sprint, especially down the straight where the King’s Lynn-born driver zipped past Verstappen’s RB18.

“That result just goes to show all the hard work that everybody is putting in and the progress that we have made as a team. The car has been feeling great since we brought our last update to Austin, but I wasn’t expecting to have that much pace.”

Whilst there has been extensive development made to the W13 throughout the season and significant improvement in pace, Russell speculated that the results could have been different had Verstappen been on the soft compound.

“Obviously, it’s difficult to know how Max would have got on had he been running the Soft tyres – but it’s still a great feeling to come out on top. It was a nice battle – in the Sprint, you’re always managing the balance of risk and reward, and I didn’t want to take too many risks and end up starting at the back – but I also wanted that victory.”

The somewhat surprising results from the sprint race delivered Mercedes its best result of the season so far and places the team at the front of the grid with the real opportunity to score big points.

“Lewis did a great job coming from P8 and it’s crazy to think we’re both starting at the front, it’s going to be exciting. I’m sure Max will be flying tomorrow, but we’re in the nice position where we can maybe split the strategies and go for the win.”

Lewis Hamilton: “For us to be on the front row tomorrow is just incredible”

Team-mate and seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton also made strong progress during the sprint race and has been bumped up to second on the starting grid thanks to Sainz’s five-place grid penalty for taking an engine change.

After being granted honorary citizenship in Brazil earlier in the week, Hamilton stated “it’s been an incredible week so far” and dedicated his performance to the engineers and team members in Brackley and Brixworth.

Hamilton had a difficult qualifying session earlier in the week due to the damp conditions making it challenging for the driver to unlock the full performance of the W13, however, the enthusiast reception from the fans and atmosphere at the circuit seemed to carry the driver through the worst of it.

“I’m so happy to be standing here – it’s been an incredible week so far. It was a difficult qualifying for me but the crowd at the circuit today has been amazing. First, congratulations to George – my race was all about working my way up from P8, and this result goes to everyone back at the factory, everyone here at the track, they have just been working so hard this year.”

Starting from the front row on Sunday the team is hopeful for dry conditions so they can hold off some of the other competitive cars and maintain the race lead. Hamilton is anticipating a high-energy race to the chequered flag assuming the conditions are right and the tyres keep strong.

“For us to be on the front row tomorrow is incredible: from there, we should be able to work as a team and hopefully hold off the cars behind. We’re going to be pushing as hard as we can and if we can have good tyre degradation and hopefully some good weather, then we will have a nice fight on our hands.”

Credit: Steve Etherington