George Russell set a surprisingly quick lap in the sprint qualifying on the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix weekend’s Friday. Though Russell seemed to be pleased with his result, the British F1 driver also expressed his concerns about keeping his position in the race.
Looking forward to race
When asked whether he knew that he had the pace to secure second place, Russell admitted he wasn’t expecting such a good result considering he finished 14th in the free practice.
Nevertheless, Russell highlighted that the track’s high grip feels great and that he is excited for the weekend ahead.
“No, to be honest. I was P14 in practice.
“It’s just nice. My qualifying hasn’t been great recently. The last past Singapore, for a while, I haven’t had a good session. So I was pretty happy to get a couple of good laps under my belt. I was always sort of there or thereabouts throughout the session. That was nice.
“This track, honestly, is such a joy to drive around. It’s so quick. The grip’s so high, so it just feels nice.”
Limited Overtaking Opportunities
Despite being a high pace track, the major problem of Qatar is its limited overtaking opportunities. Knowing Qatar’s characteristic, Russell is aware of the first corner’s pivotal importance in determining the fate of the race.
The Briton has the advantage of a strong starting position. Nonetheless, he maintains his caution. Russell also emphasized the importance of DRS in Qatar.
“I don’t want to put a downer on it, but Turn 1 is probably going to be where we end up, really.
“We briefly spoke about it this morning in the drivers’ briefing about why the DRS hasn’t been extended. I hope maybe after the sprint they can adjust it if needed for the race. I think it will be challenging to overtake, but obviously we’re in a good starting position, so, yeah, we’ll take it.”
