Why George Russell tried mediums in last Brazil GP Q3 lap and what stopped Andrea Kimi Antonelli

George Russell discovered grip briefly provide throughout Components 1 qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix and elected to strive one thing completely different for his last run in Q3: a last run on the mediums.

The choice supplied some reward as Russell discovered a tenth on his soft-tyre opener in qualifying’s last stage, though it was solely sufficient for the Mercedes driver to complete the session in seventh.

Russell had been heard over the radio stating his dissatisfaction with the extent of grip via Q2 and Q3, finally feeling that he had “nothing on this tyre” and this prompted a change of plan for his concluding run of the session.

In context of the session, the place Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had been knocked out in Q1 and Q2 respectively, Russell felt relieved to have made it into Q3 regardless of his total struggles with grip, however recommended that the swap to mediums hadn’t been utterly profitable.

He recommended that the lowered observe grip had contributed to the mixed-up order seen in qualifying, notably following the in a single day rain.

“I do not assume I would have performed any higher on the smooth both – I needed to strive one thing completely different. It was only a very unusual session altogether, most likely the strangest one of many 12 months the place each single lap felt dangerous,” he mentioned.

“The tyres felt poor each single lap. Very unusual. A part of me feels that it was virtually injury limitation once I take a look at the place Max ended up and the place Lewis ended up.

George Russell, Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photograph by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Photos through Getty Photos

“I feel it is tyre and floor associated, I do not know why. It clearly rained loads final evening, the observe was possibly just a little bit greasy. However everyone simply appeared to be struggling, I feel.

“There have been clearly possibly a handful of drivers who had been doing an awesome job constantly however then lots of drivers struggling mentally. I haven’t got a solution for it, however I feel it is a bit of a one-off.”

His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, by comparability, loved a way more fruitful qualifying session and plonked his Mercedes subsequent to Lando Norris on tomorrow’s entrance row. Antonelli had continued with the smooth tyres for his last run, however revealed that he had mentioned whether or not to strive mediums along with his workforce.

The Italian defined that the delta between the 2 compounds was small and this was of some temptation, however finally felt that his smooth tyre efficiency was sturdy sufficient to make sure he may hold a contemporary set of mediums again for Sunday’s race.

“We undoubtedly considered placing on the medium in qualifying as a result of even yesterday, the medium felt mainly the identical because the smooth,” Antonelli defined. “The soar from medium to smooth was little or no. Additionally in the present day within the dash, the medium felt higher than the smooth.

“Even within the first few laps, the grip simply felt higher. The tyre felt extra strong, particularly all through the entire lap. So undoubtedly we had a considered it as a result of we thought that there was not a lot of a niche.

“However I assumed as effectively that as a result of I felt good on the smooth, I assumed it will be higher to maintain it for tomorrow. Tomorrow, clearly, we’ve the brand new tyres, in order that’s good, particularly for the beginning. So I feel that was the appropriate alternative on the finish.”

Images from Sao Paulo GP – Dash Race

Lando Norris, McLaren