© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Here is the transcript of the post 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Qualifying parc fermé interviews and press conference with George Russell.
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jamie Chadwick)
Q: George, P3 on the grid tomorrow. You look a bit disappointed. Did you feel like there was more there potentially?
George RUSSELL: Yeah, to be honest, before the session, I would have definitely taken a P3. But when I just saw how close it was… I was really happy with the lap, but you always think there might have been a little bit more in there. But, you know, being realistic, I think this was probably the maximum today. We know on the sort of high-speed circuits, we probably don’t quite have the pace of the McLarens, and obviously Max did an amazing job again. So, yeah, congrats to him.
Q: We saw you lose out potentially a bit with the track evolution, doing your lap a little bit early. Do you think you could have maybe had a bit more at the end of the session then?
GR: I can’t really hear you, to be honest. But, yeah, as I said, it was a really tricky session, obviously, with the red flag in the middle of the session, and we had to — that one lap at the end was all that counted. It was quite interesting seeing the Red Bull do the two laps. But as I said, P3 is a great place to start, and it’ll be a long race tomorrow.
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: George, a brilliant lap by you. What aspect of Q3 were you most pleased with?
GR: Yeah. I’m not too sure, to be honest. I’ve got mixed feelings because I felt there was a bit more on the table. There’s a lot of pressure going into that last lap because Oscar had a lap on the board. I think the run plan that Max did with the two laps was a really good one and one we didn’t really consider. Just having that lap on the board sort of takes the pressure off. When you go into Turn 1, you’ve got to really send it and you’re braking at 75 metres. When you’ve got no lap on the board, it’s like, “I’ve got no bailout here if I make the smallest of mistakes.” So, look, P3 is much better than I thought and to be so close to Oscar. Congrats to Max. He did a great job. It’s going be interesting tomorrow.
Q: Was two laps with a hot pit stop even discussed in the pit?
GR: It was, to be honest. It was discussed more to actually start on the new and put the used on after. I’m sure it was discussed on the pit wall. I’m not privy to every single conversation because I’m just driving the car at that point, and I put my trust in the team. But it’s something we’ll discuss afterwards. As a driver, just knowing you’ve only got that one lap… Especially on a track like this, you’ve got to be full commitment. Turn 1… you’re pushing the tyres to be as cold as possible, and I didn’t have the confidence to push them any cooler. I lost a bit of lap time with my tires being a bit too hot, because I was just being a little bit too conservative with them. P3 is a great place to start. I think the deg on the Medium is going be pretty high, so I hope there will be more opportunities than Japan.
Q: Can you challenge for the win tomorrow?
GR: Yeah. I think it depends on Turn 1, to be honest. Max and I were just talking now. We both recognise McLaren are the standout favourites and definitely have the pace on everybody else. If Oscar gets into the lead, you’ll probably see a repeat of Bahrain. If we stay in the order we qualified, I think it could be a tight race until the pit stops. The Medium tyre this year was last year’s soft, which only one driver used in the whole race. We saw the tyres were too hard in Japan. We’ve all pushed to have softer tyres. Hopefully, it won’t make it a slam-dunk one-stop, and there could be a couple of different strategies on the table.
Source: FIA.com
