Despite securing a spot on the podium in Baku with George Russell, Mercedes had fairly low expectations regarding their qualifying performance at the Singapore Grand Prix after struggling for pace in the two practice sessions on Friday. However, the tide turned in their favour today as the Silver Arrows managed to lock out the second row in an interrupted Q3 session.
While Russell scraped through Q1 after complaining about low grip, he gained more confidence in the car as the session progressed. Posting the time of 1:29.867 in his only run during the final segment of qualifying, the Brit found himself in fourth position—0.342 seconds behind the benchmark time set by Lando Norris. While his teammate Lewis Hamilton managed to pip him for third place by a slight margin of 0.026 seconds, Russell would certainly hope to secure back-to-back podiums going into the race tomorrow.
Speaking afterwards, Russell was asked to offer his opinion on whether their leap in performance since yesterday can be regarded as one of the best recoveries Mercedes has pulled off between their factory in Brackley and the rest of their team in the Singapore paddock. He responded that the turnaround from their poor performance yesterday has been remarkable. Referring to the drastic improvement in car performance in the span of 24 hours, he also commended the team for their hard work.
“Absolutely, incredible turnaround from yesterday. It was without doubt our worst Friday in probably three years. And this morning I was second, comfortably ahead of everyone bar Lando [Norris], and the car was night and day difference. So credit to all the team for the work they did.”
In terms of the role that Frederik Vesti and other simulator drivers played in finding the right set-up for qualifying, Russell acknowledged their contribution. Furthermore, he expressed his gratitude to the engineers as well, who combed through the data overnight to remedy their performance woes.
“Yeah, immense. It’s not only the people on the sim, but it’s the people going through the data all through the night. The engineers are even here through the night literally as well. So yeah, great turnaround.”
With regard to the changes they made after the practice sessions yesterday and whether they were primarily mechanical, Russell confirmed that their lack of pace and stability was the outcome of the W15 being in the wrong setup window. Moreover, the 26-year-old added that the track might not have provided the ideal circumstances to conduct the experiments they did yesterday.
“Yeah, it was just we were totally in the wrong window with the set-up. We were trying some things yesterday, maybe not the right place to do it. And yeah, clearly a big turnaround.”
When asked whether the couple of escape road moments he had earlier today were prompted by him pushing the limits of the modified car, Russell admitted that he was merely assessing if he left anything on the table in terms of extracting more performance.
Revealing that he had more expectations going into qualifying after setting the second fastest time in FP3, Russell confessed that he was fairly content with the result given that he maximised the potential of his car after struggling a fair bit in Q1 and Q2.
“Yeah, I had good confidence. I was just seeing if there was anything more in the tank.
“There wasn’t. So pretty happy. I mean, before the session I was hoping for a bit more, but after Q1 and Q2 very happy to salvage it and move forward.”
With Oscar Piastri starting behind him in a quick McLaren, Russell acknowledged that he poses the primary threat to the Mercedes duo. While he expects Norris to sail off into the distance if he makes a clean getaway, the two-time race winner remarked that he is hopeful about challenging Max Verstappen for a podium tomorrow, alongside teammate Hamilton.
“Yeah, well, he’s going to be the main threat from behind. I hope that Lewis [Hamilton] and I can take the fight to Max [Verstappen], but realistically if Lando [Norris] is leading after lap one he’ll win the race comfortably.”
Furthermore, in respect of the fourth DRS zone that has been added between turns 14 and 16 and whether it might boost overtaking opportunities, Russell quipped that a decision could’ve already been taken a year ago when he caught Lando Norris in the closing stages as he looked to win.
“I mean we could have done with it 12 months ago really.”
