George Russell was left bemused by having \u201cno pace\u201d in his Mercedes W16 during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the Briton crossing the line in fifth on a weekend that saw the squad seal P2 in the Teams\u2019 Championship.<\/p>\n
Russell<\/a> had looked to be in the mix at times earlier in the weekend, having set the pace in third practice before again going quickest during Q2 in Qualifying. But after starting from P4 on the grid, the Silver Arrows driver dropped backwards off the line.<\/p>\n Whilst he subsequently managed to get back in front of the Aston Martin<\/a> of Fernando Alonso<\/a>, Ferrari<\/a>\u2019s Charles Leclerc<\/a> proved uncatchable in fourth and Russell came home in a distant P5, marking a tough day for the Brackley-based outfit as team mate Kimi Antonelli<\/a> was down the order in P15.<\/p>\n \u201cA dreadful race, start to finish,\u201d Russell conceded afterwards. \u201cWe just had no pace \u2013 it was a bit odd. I was fifth, which is a result that was much better than the true picture.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously Kimi being down in 15th is quite abnormal, for us as a team to be that far off.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite a difficult outing at the Yas Marina Circuit, it was enough for Mercedes<\/a> to be confirmed as runners-up in the Teams\u2019 Championship<\/a>, having taken second place with an 18-point margin over Red Bull<\/a>.<\/p>\n And while Russell was glad to secure this, the 27-year-old admitted that he is keen to get the sport\u2019s next era underway as a new wave of regulations come into effect for 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you always want to end on a high, but we had a goal these last couple of race weekends, and that was just to secure P2 in the championship,\u201d Russell explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re all very glad this era has come to a close, because it\u2019s been a real challenging one for everyone bar McLaren<\/a> and Red Bull, and we\u2019re excited for a clean slate.\u201d<\/p>\n