© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Here is the transcript of the post 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix Qualifying parc fermé interviews and press conference with George Russell.
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by James Hinchcliffe)
Q: George Russell, you are pole sitter for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the fourth of your career, third of the season. Tell me, coming into this weekend, did you and the Mercedes team think you guys were going to have that kind of pace?
George RUSSELL: Honestly, absolutely not. It feels incredible to be back on pole. We’ve been so quick all weekend, and I just knew coming into that last Q3 lap, that’s going to be the one that counts. It doesn’t matter what’s happened before then. And I had a bit of a moment on my first run, and we had to change the front wing. So there was a moment I thought we weren’t going to make the flag. But just so happy and, you know, we’ve got to do some deep diving to understand why it’s been so quick so far this weekend because it was a real surprise.
Q: Yeah, all the track and then some on that first run, but you got it done on the second. You’ve got this reputation now for kind of making some calls from inside the cockpit. You said over the radio you wanted to be the last car on the racetrack. Big risk at a street circuit with the track improving, yellow flags possible, red flags possible, but how confident were you that you were going to have what it took?
GR: Yeah, I mean, ultimately, you’ve got to put it on the table sometimes, and I felt confident in myself. I knew if I did a clean lap it would be enough to secure a front row. So to get pole position, it’s incredible, but ultimately, you know, we’ve had a few good qualifyings recently. We need to convert that into a win now.
Q: OK, real just quick, back in Las Vegas, what’s it like being back here racing down the famous Strip?
GR: Yeah, it’s great always being in Las Vegas. It’s late night, good atmosphere here, and excited for the race now.
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Very well done, George. It was a brilliant final lap. Just how satisfying is it to put together a lap like that around such a challenging racetrack?
GR: Yeah, incredibly satisfying, and especially knowing the car’s been so quick all weekend. You know, as a team, we’ve topped every single session. And nevertheless, when you get to Q3, you know what’s happened beforehand has no influence whatsoever. So the pressure kind of is ramped up. And, you know, it was a little bit touch and go for a moment because we had to change the front wing. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get the last lap. But then it was a super strong lap, especially the first two sectors, and just really, really pleased to secure the pole.
Q: You asked to go late. You asked the team to go late. How much did the track ramp up during Q3?
GR: Massively. I think probably between the very first car and the very last car who does their lap, it’s probably over a tenth. It’s probably the biggest track ramp of the whole season. So I wanted to put it all on the line. And, you know, it’s high risk. I knew that if there were no yellow flags, then we would, you know, we had the possibility to be on the front row. But ultimately, as well, I want to say thanks to the guys in the garage to get the front wing change so quick as well, because, as I said, I touched the wall in the first run and we could have missed that last run altogether.
Q: Now, George, this is your third pole position of the season so far, but it goes against the recent run of form. So can we discuss why? Why is the Mercedes so quick this weekend?
GR: I’d love to tell you, to be honest, it’s been a real surprise for all of us. And it’s something we need to really review because this is an outlier circuit. We haven’t done anything out of the ordinary specifically for Vegas, but for whatever reason, the conditions, the layout, is playing in our favour. And I’m kind of scratching my head as to why. You know, we will ride with it for the time being. But as I said, if you’re quick in Vegas, it’s a bit of a one-off circuit. So we need to understand it. And of course, one of our other poles was in Canada as well, which is very cold, street circuit-esque conditions too, so there’s a small trend.
Q: If you were to put it down to one thing, would you say it’s temperatures?
GR: No, to be honest. No, I think there’s been no secret. We’ve been struggling with a bit of understeer this season and the track in Vegas, you’re sliding around quite a lot, and maybe that’s been a small factor that the understeer limitation has been less noticeable here. But there are certain corners where this car is performing so well, and especially in the first sector, the car feels absolutely on rails, especially through the third corner. And as I said, we need to nail down after the weekend and maybe even into the winter why it’s been working so good.
Q: Alright, final one. What about the race then? How is the long run pace of the car?
GR: Well, I think the long run for everybody has been very challenging on the Medium and the Soft. There’s a lot of graining. We saw the same last year, but I expect the Hard tyre to be very resilient. But not one single driver has run the Hard tyre as yet this whole weekend. So you’re going to be learning on the fly. It’s going to be probably surviving that first stint and going from there. But, you know, here in Vegas, anything can happen. It’s a long race. There was a timely Safety Car for a number of people last year, and we also saw that last race in Brazil. So, you know, right now I’m very happy, very satisfied, but I’m not taking anything for granted going into tomorrow.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) George, it’s been a trend this season that Mercedes tends to be really, really quick on a Friday, but then struggles to gain more pace going through Saturday and Sunday. Did that leave you maybe a little bit sceptical after how strong yesterday was, whether you’d be able to carry that through into today? And what was the confirmation, knowing that, ‘hey, actually, we are this quick’?
GR: Yeah, I’d say the trend that we’ve seen this season of being quicker, or let’s say at the upper end of a timesheet, has probably been down more to the fact that our rivals use a bit more fuel, probably not using their high power. Whenever our strategists have done the review, we normally end up qualifying where they predicted we’d be after practice. It’s just when you see the timesheets, it’s maybe a little bit more flattering. But this weekend, it was slightly different again because the track was so different in FP1 and FP2. The lap times were probably four or five seconds quicker come qualifying. And it’s a very challenging decision on a Thursday night when the car is working well. You don’t want to touch it, but you know it’s going to be totally different tomorrow. And you need to make some changes to follow the track improvement. So yeah, as I said, still was still scratching our heads a little bit as to why, but it’s been a great weekend so far.
Q: (Ben Hunt – Autosport) Gentlemen, I just wondered, your opinion… You got to meet the Race Director for the first time last night. I just wondered what your first impressions were on him and what he had to say to you.
GR: I’d say positive, to be honest. I think we’ve been through a little bit of an era where our comments are taken on board, but very little change happens. For example, a number of drivers spoke about the track limits of the exit of Turn 4. We felt it was a little bit unnecessary on a street circuit. He made a change to it in the moment, and I think that’s what we want to see as drivers we want to be we heard we want to be heard and we want to see action taken straight away. So I mean, so far it’s been positive.
Q: (Ben Waterworth – The Roar) Question to all three. We’re meant to have the warmest day of the weekend tomorrow. Are you expecting that to affect the performance of the car in the race tomorrow at all?
GR: I think it will only help the tyre graining, which we’re only expecting to see on probably the Medium tyre, but from probably lap 15, 20 onwards, it’s not going to make a big impact.
Q: (Lorenza Binkele – The Economics) Just a question for all three. Just curious about what is your routine like, you know, diet etcetera, night race versus a day race. Do you change anything in your routine?
GR: Yeah, similar to Carlos, it’s a real challenge for the body. Such a big shift from Europe. And of course, we have to shift back when we go to Qatar next week. So it’s difficult to get your eight hours sleep in when it’s so offset. So for me, it’s also just trying to sleep when you can, so I took. you know, a nap before qualifying. Woke up a little bit drowsy and then made sure I was in peak condition come the end of qualifying. But it’s really difficult, but we’re all in the same boat.
Q: Did you actually manage to sleep before qualifying? You actually slept?
GR: Yeah, I went to sleep because the body’s just all over the place. And I’m just trying to sleep when I can and just listen to my body. And if I need to sleep, sleep. And there wasn’t much to do. The car was feeling good. I was feeling good. So we didn’t change the setup at all going into qualifying. So it was sleep was the best thing.
Q: (Ben Hunt – Autosport) Sorry, George, to dig into the sleep stuff. How long did you get? Were you in your driver’s room or did you go back to the hotel? And is it normal that you’ve done that before?
GR: I mean, to be honest, I’d normally try and probably sort of meditate as opposed to sleep, just sort of close my eyes and listen to, I don’t know, waves crashing against the sea or breathing exercises. I sort of do like box breathing and works for me. It sort of relaxes my mind and takes a bit of pressure off. But yeah, today got probably 45 minutes. So yeah, as I said, it’s just adapting every single weekend. When people ask me, like, what’s your race weekend routine, the routine changes every single weekend, depending on how you slept the night before, the circumstances you find yourself in. And obviously here, it’s so challenging for everyone being so offset, working night shift effectively. You know, for me, just sleeping when I can is working for me.
Source: FIA.com
