“Complicated qualifying, tomorrow we can fight for the podium”

George Russell doesn’t want to smile too much at the end of qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, fifth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship. On the Shanghai track, Red Bull confirmed itself as absolutely dominant with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez who monopolized the front row. Much more balance behind them.

The three-time world champion set an excellent 1:33.660 with 322 thousandths of an advantage over his teammate. Second row with Fernando Alonso third at 488 thousandths and Lando Norris fourth at 505, while in the third we find Oscar Piastri fifth at 613 and Charles Leclerc sixth at 629. Carlos Sainz is seventh at 637, ahead of George Russell, eighth at 773.

At the end of qualifying on the Chinese track the English driver, who saved the honor of the Mercedes team (Lewis Hamilton did not go beyond 18th position) he told his feelings to the official website of the Brackley stable: “Qualifying was complicated. My first lap in Q2 seemed to go very well, but the red flag forced us to abort the attempt. We then had to use another set of new tires to progress to Q3. Without this, we would have had two new sets for the final part of qualifying and the result could have been different. We are in that battle between P3 and P8 and, unfortunately, we found ourselves at the bottom of that battle in the last few races in qualifying. Small differences can have a big impact.”

F1, Red Bull dominance in qualifying in Shanghai: Verstappen on pole. Ferrari debacle

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Last line about tomorrow’s race: “It’s difficult to predict what will happen. It’s all up for grabs with the cars around us, so hopefully we have the pace to move up into the positions that count.”