Mauri HarperGeorge Russell grapples with his Mercedes’ pace, finishing sixth in the Saudi GP, unable to overtake Fernando Alonso despite a close pursuit.
George Russell finished sixth at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, unable to surpass Fernando Alonso throughout the race. The Mercedes F1 driver expressed frustration, believing he had a better pace than his rival but found it impossible to overtake Alonso’s Aston Martin.
“I saw the back of Fernando the entire race, between 1.1 and 1.6 seconds for 40 laps, so it was frustrating. When he sped up, I followed; when he slowed, I followed, but I could never get close enough. It’s a day of mixed feelings,” Russell stated.
“We see potential in the car, but we haven’t been able to showcase it when it mattered over the last two weekends. However, it’s very close between Aston, McLaren, us, and Ferrari, but we should be at the front of this group!”
Starting in eighth place, Lewis Hamilton finished ninth, remaining philosophical after a strategy that did not play to his advantage (not stopping during the first safety car).
“We did our best to stretch our stint today and hoped to benefit from a later safety car. Unfortunately, that never happened, and we ended up finishing slightly lower than where we started. But it was worth trying something different. We gave it everything we had, and that was probably the best result we could achieve today given how the race unfolded.”
“There’s potential in this car, but we still need to add a lot of performance. Today, the car was quite good in medium and low-speed corners, but we lost out in high-speed turns.”
“The high-speed performance is really bad with our car. We’ve struggled with this for three years, dealing with bouncing. And then, facing this scenario again, it’s a harsh reality, but it is what it is, and I still raced as hard as I could.”
“The upcoming races will be tricky, but we’re going to make a lot of effort to progress as much as possible. I know everyone at the factory will put their heads down and work as hard as possible.”
Russell Saudi GP F1 2024. Russell Saudi GP F1 2024
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