An up-and-down start to the weekend for George Russell at Monza
George Russell didn't get much running time this weekend at Monza. He handed over the wheel to Kimi Antonelli during Free Practice 1, and missed part of the second session as the car was damaged. Despite this setback, he qualified third.
Will the lack of track time cost him dearly this weekend? At Monza, George Russell had to speed up his preparation. He didn’t drive in Free Practice 1, Kimi Antonelli was in his Mercedes. The Italian had an accident with the car, which was heavily damaged.
During the time to repair the car, the British driver’s second session was shortened by a few minutes. Only the last one was complete. Driver number 63 had much less track time than his teammate. This situation did not prevent him from achieving the third fastest time in qualifying. And beating the Ferraris at their home track.
Excited to see everyone so close in terms of lap times.
It was a weekend with a lot of ups and downs, obviously. I missed a lot of things yesterday (Friday), which put me on the defensive, and I had to make a lot of changes between FP3 and qualifying because it was really my first real track session, he said.
« And Q1 and Q2 were really very complicated. I was not confident, I didn’t feel well in the car and I just managed to pass the session by a narrow margin. And suddenly, I managed to put myself in the right position for Q3. On my two laps, I think I was third or fourth, and obviously finished third. So I am quite satisfied with this result and it’s quite exciting to see how close I am to everyone. »
With a little more experience on this track, George Russell could have gone a bit faster, especially since the Silver Arrows have shown some ease in their fast laps. In terms of race pace, it was also interesting, but below what McLaren has offered.
Spare parts may be in short supply
We will have to be careful not to make contact during the race. Parts could become scarce at Mercedes. Kimi Antonelli’s accident is not helping. It’s something the Briton is well aware of.
« We obviously lost quite a few parts. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Lewis and I don’t have any other damage, otherwise we would have to go back to some of the old parts, unless we can make new ones in the meantime. It’s not the end of the world as long as we don’t both cause more damage. At the moment, we don’t have spare parts for our upgraded equipment.
