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Here is the transcript of the post 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix track interviews and press conference featuring George Russell!
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Karun Chandhok)
Q: George Russell, congratulations on second place—bit stressful at the end there.
George RUSSELL: Yeah, it felt all under control for a moment and then suddenly we had a brake-by-wire failure. So suddenly the pedal was going long, and then it was going short… I didn’t know what was going on. The steering wheel wasn’t working properly, so it was really hard fought to keep Lando behind. I think one more lap, he would have got me pretty comfortably. But nevertheless, really, really pleased with P2.
Q: And we saw you have a lunge around the outside of Oscar—a bit of a lock-up in that early part. After that, was it a case of just trying to protect second place?
GR: I mean, Oscar was in a league of his own. So congratulations to him and to McLaren. We knew they’d be pretty extraordinary around this circuit, and that was proven right. But for ourselves, you know, it’s been four races, three podiums—all on different types of tracks—so it gives us confidence going into the future.
Q: We heard you say that the last stint—25 laps on a set of Softs—was going to be audacious. You made it work.
GR: Yeah, I’m not too sure how that one worked as well. I saw, you know, Charles behind me on the Hard and I saw 24 laps to go. I thought, you know, “Jeez, how the hell are we going to make this work?” But we did. The team did a great job and it’s been a great weekend.
Q: And we know you had some systems issues towards the end—DRS issues as well. Any concerns about that? Because I think there’s a point where you’re being looked at for using the DRS outside the zone.
GR: Yeah, we basically were having all sorts of failures and basically we did an override on the DRS. And on one lap, I clicked the radio button and the DRS opened, so I straightaway closed it again, backed off—nothing gained. I lost more than I gained, it was only open for a split second, so kind of goes to show you the amount of issues we were having. But, as I said, really pleased with P2.
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: George, let’s come to you. Many congratulations. It was an exciting end with Lando just behind. How tough was it to keep him at bay?
GR: Yeah, it was exceptionally difficult towards the end. I had all sorts of problems with the car. The steering wheel, I was losing all my data and the brake pedal went into a failure mode, so I had to do all these resets. One minute the brakes were working properly, the next they weren’t. So I was pretty pleased when I saw the chequered flag, to be honest.
Q: And what about the DRS moment? Can you just talk us through that?
GR: Yeah, I don’t really know how that happened. It was something to do with all these failures we were having. As soon as I saw it opened, I backed off. I lost two tenths of a second. It never happened again throughout. I didn’t actually click the DRS button – I clicked another button and it opened. As I said, I lost a lot more than I gained – I don’t think I even gained anything because it was open for less than a second.
Q: So given all of these problems, is this one of the most satisfying P2s of your career?
GR: Yeah, I mean, I’ve not actually had that many P2s to be honest. I’ve had a few P3s, but we did not expect to be anywhere close to McLaren this weekend. Qualifying on the front row was a real surprise. And then seeing Lando right up there on lap one behind me, I thought, “He’s going to fly off into the distance here.” Oscar did an amazing job to control the race, but to keep Lando at bay, I was really, really pleased about.
Q: So how much confidence does this whole weekend give you going forward?
GR: Yeah, a lot of confidence, to be honest. This was the real sort of test for us. We knew that our car likes the cold conditions, and the competitiveness we showed in China and Suzuka was no major surprise. But this was going to be the question mark – here in Bahrain. And we’ve had another strong weekend. So it bodes well for the season.
Q: Are you a genuine title contender this year?
GR: I’d love to say so, but I don’t think we are, to be honest. McLaren are just too dominant right now. I think this is probably going to be their peak performance – what we saw this week in Bahrain. And what we saw in China and Suzuka is probably their worst-case scenario and they still obviously got one victory from those two races. So we’ve got to keep on picking up the points, picking up the pieces. And this weekend we picked up the pieces to get a P2 – and we did it in Melbourne as well to get the P3. I don’t expect this to continue for many races to come, but who knows.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine Brazil) Question for the three: Formula 1 is getting so competitive – the whole field is only one second apart in Q1. And of course, the teams have budgeted enough to hire the drivers – we don’t have more paid drivers. Do you think talent is 100% valued in Formula 1? And the three of you came from F1 academies so I would like you to comment on that.
GR: Yeah, I think this is probably the most complete grid we’ve ever seen in Formula 1. Everybody who’s here is here on merit. The sport is in the strongest place ever, so you don’t need that external resource that some drivers brought in the past. And I guess now it’s the duty of the sport and the FIA to help at grassroots level because – there’s no secret – it is extraordinarily expensive in go-karting and Formula 4, and we need to… Yeah, I posted that photo of you – I’m sorry! We need to ensure that the talent is coming through at that young age and it’s not only the ones who have the resources behind them from age seven to 17 that get the chance.
Source: FIA.com
