George Russell says his Mercedes team won’t know where that pace came from at the Singapore Grand Prix after winning fifth overall in the second race of the season.
Mercedes won in Canada in June, but was not expected to be particularly strong at high temperatures in Singapore. However, after qualifying at pole position, Russell says he will control the race to beat Max Burstappen for more than five seconds, making up for the slow crash at the same venue in 2023.
“It’s amazing, especially after it happened a few years ago,” Russell said. “It was a bit of a missed opportunity, but we’ve more than made up for it today. I’m very grateful to the team. They did an amazing job this weekend. I don’t really know where this performance came from, but I’m really happy.
“If I were to create a list of all the races we thought we could win this year, this would probably be at the bottom, so I think we need to understand tomorrow and Tuesday to understand why performances can deliver this by the time the season is coming.
In search of Mercedes performance answers, Russell noted some truck changes compared to 12 months ago.
“I think there’s less tire overheating compared to what this year has passed. I think the trucks have had a big overheating in the past, but some of the corners have a new tarmac, so it’s a bit smoother,” he pointed out. “The tires look a little more robust this year. It was all in a bit of a good window, but it was still a surprise.”
Russell also believes that a key aspect of the race has been out of the line, with Red Bull actively starting with soft tires — compared to the rest of the top seven in the media — is looking to acquire track position early.
“I honestly thought that if Max jumped over me in turn 1, he would have won the race because overtaking was so challenging, so I thought it was a smart move from those guys.
“Rand is definitely the fastest guy out there and he just couldn’t pass Max. He was within a second of every lap. I doubt we could have achieved that if Landor hadn’t been able to pass.
