(Motorsport-Total.com) – George Russell beat all competitors from McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull in qualifying for the Formula 1 race in Monza (follow live here in the ticker) – yet it was not enough for the Mercedes driver to secure pole position. Because somewhat surprisingly, Alpine driver Pierre Gasly claimed the first starting spot for the Grand Prix in Italy.
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Russell had briefly taken the top spot shortly before the end, but was then beaten by Gasly by 0.060 seconds. While he can certainly be happy for the Frenchman, as he says, he is “of course disappointed that we ourselves are not on pole.”
This was also related to Max Verstappen, who disrupted Mercedes’ planned slipstreaming tactic and wanted to slot in between Kimi Antonelli and Russell, but only held them up because Antonelli did not want to pass Red Bull.
“He wanted to go for the slipstream, Kimi was there too, and I drove my lap one and a half seconds behind Max – which was not ideal,” says Russell, while Mercedes believes that this very action cost the Briton the pole in Monza.
“However, that does not take anything away from Pierre’s performance,” he emphasizes. “They were flying all day, were the fastest in Q1, and were right at the front from the start. They looked strong throughout the weekend.”
Indeed, Gasly had indicated the potential of the A526 with the best time in Q1, but from when did Russell perceive Alpine as a threat at all? “We have often seen in Q1 that some midfield teams put in competitive laps,” he says. “For example, you saw that a few times with VCARB, where they were among the top three at the start of a session.”
Will Gasly be a competitor on Sunday?
Russell therefore admits that he did not think much of the first best time. “I don’t think we thought they would fight for pole,” he says. “And it just shows what a fantastic job he and his team did to get pole – and he was one of the few drivers who could still improve on the very last lap.”
“That was really quite impressive.”
But the race is, of course, a different matter. Russell knows that starting from second position, he has every chance of winning, although he does expect an “interesting fight” with Gasly. “I think they have a car with very good top speed on the straights, which will be pleasant for them in the race.”
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“I don’t know exactly how the fight will shape up tomorrow, but I am confident that I have the pace to fight for the win,” says the Briton.
No thoughts about the World Championship
If he achieves a good result in the race, that could of course also be a boost towards the World Championship title. Currently, he is 59 points behind teammate Antonelli, who will start the race from 20th place due to an engine penalty in Monza.
Only: Russell will also receive a penalty this season – “hopefully then when we have the update on the car, which should make the comeback a bit easier than currently,” he says.
He is currently not wasting any thoughts on the World Championship. “I am focusing solely on my performance, and this has been a very strong weekend so far,” says the Mercedes driver. “We didn’t quite nail it at the crucial moment, but we were in the top 3 in every single session throughout the weekend.”
“And already in Zandvoort, I was in the front row for both the sprint and the main race. So I am very satisfied with this momentum since the summer break.”
Before the break, Russell had a difficult phase, often found further back, and lost ground to Antonelli in the championship. “Coming back from this break and simply finding my rhythm again makes me really happy. Of course, the win will be very important, but the pure performance pleases me almost even more.”
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