18 November 2023 , 14:23
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If securing third place on the Las Vegas Grand Prix grid wasn't enough to prove George Russell is Mercedes' most confident driver right now, his post-session interview certainly supports the argument.
Qualifying was something of a mixed bag for Mercedes. One one hand, Lewis Hamilton had a difficult day and didn't reach Q3. He will start the race 10th thanks to a grid bump caused by Carlos Sainz's grid penalty.
But the Silver Arrows were made to feel much better by Russell who was fourth on the timesheets and will inherit the third grid slot. The younger Brit was simply able to heat up his tyres on the cold track better than his team-mate had managed.
Naturally, he was much more perky in his interview as a result and seemed to be brimming with self-belief, even if his car continues to be temperamental. He said: "I'm happy with the result, I felt confident around this circuit, we weren't expecting to be this competitive, coming into this weekend
"But, I want to be honest, as strange as it sounds, I wasn't too concerned where we'd qualify today. As long as we were in the top 10, because it is the biggest unknown of the season going into the race."
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Russell's biggest concern is about tyre graining on the cold track, which Mercedes saw a lot of in practice. In contrast, Ferrari have been less affected by that particular issue and, with Charles Leclerc on pole, he hinted that it is going to be very difficult to keep up with the Italians.
He described Ferrari as being "in a league of their own". And Hamilton concurred in his own interview, in which he looked much less enthusiastic and made it clear he wished he had the same machine Charles Leclerc and Sainz to drive.
The seven-time world champion said: "It's not that great. Yesterday was feeling a little bit better and we were looking relatively competitive. Made some changes overnight. FP3 was pretty poor, that kind of put me on the back foot and then I was just trying to recover basically in qualifying, which is never the place to do so.
"I just struggled with grip, the car just wasn't working for me. And it's definitely difficult when you can't even get through Q2." And he made it clear he has no expectations for the race when asked what he thinks he can achieve, replying: "Your guess is as good as mine.
"One, with the car, and also it's to do with the tyre graining, we had massive graining like everybody. We had some rear graining in FP3, so I think how you manage it and how you progress, where you push and where you don't tomorrow is going to be key. But I mean, it's impressive watching the Ferrari today. It's a quick car!"