George Russell admits that starting second for the Chinese Grand Prix was ‘damage limitation’ after the Mercedes driver suffered a car issue in the final part of Qualifying.
The Briton had taken victory earlier on Saturday in the Sprint to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship after claiming top spot last weekend at the season-opener in Australia.
But the first chink in Mercedes’ domination of the 2026 season so far came at the very start of Q3, with Russell coming to a stop after the opening corners.
Having crawled back to the pits while stuck in first gear, Mercedes performed resets which seemed to fix the problem and allow Russell a chance at a single fastest lap that proved good enough for P2 behind team mate, Kimi Antonelli.
“Definitely damage limitation,” said Russell. “In Q2 the front wing broke – we were wrapping our heads around that – and then obviously went out in Q3 on track, the car wasn’t restarting, couldn’t change gear.
“I’m happy to be standing here because I started the last lap, had no battery, no tyre temp, no nothing. But the team have done a really great job to get us into this position – it could have been much worse, so very glad and well done to this guy [Antonelli], first pole.”
Despite Mercedes locking out the front row for the third race in succession, Russell was quick to point out that the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have proved a threat in both Australia and China Sprint.
Starting on the second row for Sunday’s 56-lap race and with some of the best starts on the grid, Hamilton and Leclerc could prove a thorn in the side of Russell and Antonelli.
“We need to take care of the guys in red as well – they were super-fast off the line,” added Russell.
“I’m sure Lewis is going to be pretty dicey at the beginning of the race, but I think for us just to try to keep it clean, have a good race, try and put on a good race for the fans and see what we can do.”
