“That was fun”: George Russell ‘enjoyed’ his qualifying laps ahead of main race in Jeddah

Mercedes driver George Russell "really enjoyed" the qualifying session at the Jeddah International Circuit on Saturday, where he finished P4. The Brit will start the race in P3 owing to Charles Leclerc's 10-place grid penalty, which will give him a better shot at competing for a podium spot on Sunday.

Russell was ecstatic about his final Q3 lap and could not hide his satisfaction as he came on to the radio and said:

“Great job. Those were some nice laps. I really enjoyed that. Know we’ve got lots of work to do but… wooooo… that was fun. Well done.”

George Russell said that the team exceeded their potential and expectations to qualify ahead of an Aston Martin (Lance Stroll) and a Ferrari (Carlos Sainz). The 25-year-old said (via Mercedes' official website):

"We have exceeded the potential and our own expectations to be ahead of an Aston Martin and a Ferrari. It is a solid job; we put in a lot of work overnight. The team back at Brackley were working hard in the simulator and we did a lot of work trackside this morning to try and get more out of the package. We know we are not in the fight for pole just yet, but you have to maximize what you’ve got, and we certainly did that today.

"We have a fight on our hands tomorrow, most likely with the Aston Martins and the Ferraris. We will be pushing hard to get on the podium and see what we can do. This team has higher standards and expectations for themselves than just finishing in the top three, but we will be giving everything we’ve got to be standing there on Sunday."

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"P3 on the grid tomorrow; I’m really pleased with that" - George Russell

George Russell looked the more comfortable of the two Mercedes drivers as he qualified almost half a second ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Speaking to F1.com, he said:

"P3 on the grid tomorrow; I’m really pleased with that. [It’s] far from [our] expectations and the work the team did overnight was really great – a lot of effort went in to try and maximize the package we’ve got. You want to have a good tussle on track with competitors in a similar ballpark to you, but obviously Red Bull are in a really fantastic place right now; their car is exceptional [and] Max is just going to slice through the field,”

George Russell will be hoping to hang on to his P3 spot and challenge for higher positions to bring Mercedes to their first podium of the season.