George Russell Makes Dreary Race Prediction for Mercedes Despite Strong P3 at Bahrain GP Qualifying

We have waited 97 days for this. Though it was the shortest winter break, the wait still isn’t ever nice. F1 Season is finally underway, and the grid is set. Mercedes duo who topped the second Free Practice session quite couldn’t replicate that glory when it counted. However, the silver lining is that the man who is expected to lead the team from next year is only behind Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. But George Russell himself doesn’t see it as a silver lining. Instead, he made a rather gloomy observation.

Talking during the post-Quali interview, he said, “Everyone at the factory has done an amazing job to give Lewis and I, a car that we can build from. But Max is still out there in front. But for us, starting P3 is a great place. Time will tell tomorrow….we hope we haven’t compromised the race pace at all. It will be a close fight between everyone other than Max.” When asked what he expects from the race tomorrow, he gave a bittersweet reply saying, “If there is an opportunity we will go for it, but ultimately for all of us, the race is for second.”

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George Russell clings to the silver lining despite Max Verstappen’s dominance

While the man has given up, he has found a ray of hope to cling to. The pace shown by the Merc even though only good to fight for the second place is lauded by the future leader of the team.

He said, “A huge amount of work – our drivers have been back at base in the simulator working on the setup, and Lewis and I have been back on the simulator all week. We hope we haven’t compromised the race pace.”

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Do you think Mercedes can show a great race pace in the race tomorrow?