Mercedes F1 Faces Setbacks in Qatar, Hamilton Looks Ahead

Mercedes F1 endured a challenging Qatar GP, with Russell finding silver linings and Hamilton determined to rebound from errors.

George Russell had a turbulent race, with a poor start, a slow pit stop, frustration over the tire choice in the final stint, and a late penalty. The Mercedes F1 driver joked about it afterward, acknowledging that Formula 1 can be surprising.

“Anything else?” quipped the Briton. “This sport is so amusing, the way things change quickly. Friday was a good day, Saturday in the Sprint we were the joint-fastest, and we qualified second. Today, a bad start, no pace… fourth place is probably a flattering result.”

“In qualifying, there’s two-tenths between the first and third rows; it doesn’t take much for things to go wrong. We need to analyze what happened.”

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, was somewhat downcast Sunday evening, though he admitted responsibility for the mistakes, including a poor start: “We didn’t have enough downforce today, and the car was hard to drive. But today is on me, so I apologize to the team for the false start and the pit lane incident.”

“It’s not about how you fall, but how you rise. I’ll rise tomorrow and give it another go next week. I’ll try to wake up grateful for the opportunity to be healthy and keep trying.”