Russell reflects on ‘joy to drive’ Sprint pole in China as he voices confidence Mercedes have ‘found improvements’ on race starts

George Russell labelled his pole-claiming performance in Sprint Qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix as a “joy to drive”, with the Briton confident that Mercedes have “found some improvements” in terms of their race starts.

After setting the pace in the weekend’s sole practice session earlier on Friday, Russell – who won the first race of the season in Australia – continued his stint at the top when the grid was decided for Saturday’s Sprint, going quickest on a lap of 1m 31.520s.

The Silver Arrows racer’s effort put him 0.289s clear of team mate Kimi Antonelli and the polesitter was greeted by cheers from the crowd as he stepped out of the W17.

“Firstly hello to all the fans in China,” said Russell. “There’s been amazing support for everybody here, it’s special to be back.

“The car’s been feeling amazing – we knew after Melbourne we had a really good car, the engine’s performing really well, and today was a real joy to drive, so [I’m] happy. I’m intrigued to know what the lap times are compared to last year, because it felt really quick and that was pretty cool, very different to Melbourne.”

While Mercedes performed strongly in Qualifying last time out in Melbourne, both cars were not as fast off the line as the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in the race itself.

Looking ahead to how the launch might unfold at the Sprint in Shanghai – where the Scuderia pair will not be as close, having qualified in fourth and sixth – Russell admitted that the Silver Arrows have been working to better their own starts.

“Since Melbourne, everything we’ve been working [on] is just trying to get off the line better, what we can do [there],” the 28-year-old said. “I think we’ve found some improvements.

“Melbourne was obviously slightly dicier in the opening laps than we would have liked, but I guess we’ll find out in the morning.”

Russell also took a moment to pay tribute to the support shown by the local fans, adding: “It’s been really surreal seeing so many blue caps and so much support in the grandstands.

“I’ve sort of embraced a little bit of the culture with my special helmets over the last couple of years, so I think that’s been appreciated.”

On the other side of the garage, Antonelli spoke positively about the feeling in the car during Sprint Qualifying, whilst also acknowledging that his lap at the end of the session could have been better.

“The pace is very strong,” he explained. “I just didn’t put the lap together at the end on the softs. Still work to do, but obviously congrats to George, and it’s all to play for tomorrow.

“I’m feeling good in the car. It’s more about details, trying to put it all together, but tomorrow we’ll try to have a good start, and then try to have a good Quali.”