For George Russell, the first sprint race in the history of the Singapore Grand Prix was over sooner than expected. Although the experienced Mercedes driver managed to take the lead with a strong start from second on the grid, his dream of a sprint victory was over by the 19th corner. On the wet track, Russell strayed onto the white line and spun off. That was the end of the 20-lap race for him.
Russell was hard on himself. Team principal Toto Wolff, on the other hand, reacted with understanding. He explained: “Unfortunately, George strayed onto the white line in the final corner. That sort of thing can happen in wet conditions, especially when you’re in the lead and have to be the first to tackle the conditions.” He also praised the team, who had their hands full following the crash: “The mechanics then did an incredible job of getting the car back into racing condition. That helped us to continue our benchmarking work in qualifying.”
A complicated but useful day for the Mercedes team
Overall, it had been a “complicated” day, the Viennese driver added. “However, it has helped us as a team in many ways,” he is certain. “We tested two different specifications on our two cars here in Singapore. The main aim was to find out more about the new update and ensure it works as expected,” he went on to explain, revealing: “Overnight, we found some promising approaches, and the team did a good job of addressing some of the balance issues we’d still been seeing in Malaysia and also at the start of this race weekend.”
Kimi Antonelli and George Russell: damage limitation at the Singapore Grand Prix
In qualifying, Kimi Antonelli, who lined up in the latest version of the W17, set the fourth-fastest lap, whilst Russell, who has to work his way up from the back of the grid due to the use of new engine parts, was sixth fastest. Wolff commented: “With Kimi starting from fourth and George from the very back, we know we’ll have to focus on damage limitation in the Grand Prix. Overtaking is difficult here, but we’ll give it our all to make up places and secure a good haul of points.”