Mercedes’ George Russell continued on his impressive qualifying form having secured P5 for the F1 Japanese GP. The British driver had been on the pace from the get-go since the start of the weekend, having finished in the top 3 in two of the three practice sessions.
Following closely behind the McLaren’s in both FP1 and FP3, Russell looked to be a potential contender who could have crushed the hopes of a papaya front row. However, it was the reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, to do so.
Qualifying was not all smooth sailing for the Mercedes driver as his final run in Q3 was a complete mess in Sector 1.
Speaking in the print media zone following the end of qualifying, the 27 year-old expressed he had hoped for more as he looked a candidate for a top 3 start with the McLarens. Nonetheless, the British driver remained positive about where he starts tomorrow.
“Yeah, stretching for a bit more from the tyres, slower out lap and ultimately just had no grip at the beginning of the lap. So yeah, a bit of a shame but you know P5 it’s not a horrendous place to start.”
Issues with tyre preparation
The British driver struggled with tyre warmup after the team took a risk to go slower on their outlap. During his last flying lap, an early mistake saw the British driver drop out of contention for pole immediately. Track temperatures continued to drop, but eventually Mercedes and Russell were faced with the consequences as it hindered their final run in Q3.
“Well it was getting yeah I mean the track was getting colder and I went, we went slower on the out lap which was we knew from all of our experiences not the thing to be doing. But yeah, we decided that was the right decision and paid the price. So you know part of the game we got it right last week, we didn’t get it right this week.
“Yeah I mean we thought we was a bit too hot in the first run of Q3, but we weren’t convinced and we tried something a bit different for the last run and it was just way too cold and it was about 8 degrees cooler through that session, the track temperature. And we didn’t react to that.”
Durability of the Pirelli tyres
Russell believed they were never in the fight for pole. Optimistic about their opportunity to fight towards the front tomorrow, the British driver acknowledged their mistakes.
“So you know obviously we paid the price, but paying the price to end up P5 is not a horrendous price to pay especially with what’s coming tomorrow.”
The 3-time race winner praised their competitors efforts in placing their cars in an ideal set-up to nurture the tyres and find time over one lap, particularly Max Verstappen.
“I think that’s the case for everybody. I think if you find that sweet spot there’s easily three or four tenths gained there, so I think realistically we knew we probably would never end the fight for pole.
“But it was a surprise not to see McLaren make that same jump, so they probably had a similar limitation. Obviously Max and Red Bull did a great job to find that sweet spot.”
Team heading in the right direction
Over the winter, Mercedes have seemed to unraveled and understood their car better. The British driver expressed his excitement for the race tomorrow as it is possible the grid will drive in similar conditions to what they faced in Melbourne. When asked about their performance in 2025 so far, Russell was pleased with the progress they have made.
“Three tracks, three different tracks and we’ve been competitive, reasonably competitive at all of them so you know I hope we’re always going to be in that fight for the podium.
“Yeah I hope, probably another Melbourne, so, exciting.”
With two podiums in a row for Russell and consecutive points for teammate, Kimi Antonelli, Russell is hopeful about their competitiveness moving forward. Russell and Antonelli lock out the third row of the grid tomorrow for the F1 Japanese GP.
