A year ago, George Russell was having the time of his life at the Brazilian GP. After joining the team in 2022, he would’ve wanted to compete for wins, but it wasn’t meant to be. Mercedes was nowhere close to Red Bull (or Ferrari) last season, and all it could think of was finishing P3 in the Constructors’ Championship. But the Brackley team saw a glimmer of hope at the Brazilian GP, where Russell got his maiden Formula 1 win.

A year ago, The Brazilian GP was a Sprint weekend. So is this year’s edition. Only difference? The format. A year ago, Russell qualified in P3 for the Sprint, and won the 100km dash on Saturday, securing the P1 grid spot for Sunday. A year later, he could only manage a P6. Needless to say, he was disappointed, but it wasn’t without optimism.

George Russell believes he can salvage his Brazilian GP weekend

Coming into the weekend, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the team was “cautiously optimistic” about its chances in Brazil. Considering the 1-2 finish last year, and the fact that the W14 has shown great progress in the past few races, Mercedes looked in a good place for a race it loves. Interlagos is a Mercedes track. The team has won six of the last eight races at the venue. No wonder Wolff & Co. weren’t shying away from being a little optimistic. However, Russell just couldn’t emulate 2022’s performance in qualifying.

It didn’t all come down to Russell, though, the weather played a significant (and torrential) role in the happenings on Friday. With everything going pretty smoothly until Q3, the weather changed in the blink of an eye, a heavy downpour started, and caught out Russell. After his P6, he said, “Firstly, this is absolutely crazy. I have never ever seen a change of weather so drastically as that.” He then talked about his performance. I was really disappointed with the lap. On my lap, I was just sliding around, I had no grip. I didn’t see that much rain on my visor, and I was a second off.” 

“I actually wanted to pit because I was confident I was going to be last and ended up P6. So, while it was disappointing and frustrating, P6 is definitely not a bad place to start,” he added. Elaborating on his “not a bad place to start” comment, he gave his expectations for Sunday. When asked if a podium would be possible, he said, “Yeah, definitely. For sure, there’s a podium. Aston [Martin] seem to have found their form again. That was surprising where they’ve come from. But hoping our race pace will be better than theirs. I expect it to be a two- or three-stop race, so all to play for.”

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While Russell may have thought he’d be the driver to finish last in Q3, that unfortunately isn’t out of the question.

Russell’s Friday woes could get worse

At the Mexican GP last weekend, the FIA investigated Russell after qualifying. Why? Because he blocked the pit exit to create a sufficient gap for drivers in front of him. Although he came out unscathed, he didn’t learn from his mistakes. During qualifying in Interlagos, he did it again. But this time, instead of stopping, he was driving a little too slowly at the pit exit, which proved dangerous for more than one driver.

Interlagos has one of the longest pit exits on the calendar. Once drivers cross the pit lane exit line, they usually speed up as much as possible. Both Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly did what any other driver would do and got caught behind a very slow Russell. Instead of driving on the far left of the track, Russell was almost in the middle. Gasly and Leclerc both had things to say about the Brit’s actions. As soon as the incident with Gasly happened, Russell went under investigation. If the FIA decides to hand him a penalty, he could very well start further down the grid.

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Potential penalties aside, do you think Geroge Russell can turn his Friday woes into Sunday smiles at the Brazilian GP?