George Russell snaps at Sky F1 reporter over ‘not fair’ comment | F1 | Sport

George Russell snapped at a comment made by a Sky Sports reporter after qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Brit qualified fourth for the race but had been targeting pole on the track where he won last year, until an issue affected his Mercedes in the final part of the session and hampered his chances. Lando Norris qualified at the front instead.

So when he was in the TV pen after the session and Sky reporter Rachel Brookes alluded to the car not being where he wanted it to be, Russell made it clear he disagreed with the suggestion. He snapped back: “I don’t think that is a fair assessment. We were quickest in FP3, quickest in Q1, quickest in Q2, and then I had an issue with the power steering and qualified fourth.

“So, Lando did an amazing job and these conditions are obviously very challenging, and ultimately it always comes down to the last lap. That last lap is key, and unfortunately, in Q3, I had this problem. I’m not saying that I would have been there with Lando – he clearly did an amazing job – but yeah, it was just a shame that it went away from us at the key moment of the day.”

Asked if he could shed any light on what the problem with his car was, Russell added: “I don’t know, to be honest. I jumped out of the car 10 minutes ago. But just suddenly, on one lap – I didn’t hit a wall or anything – but the steering got really heavy. Every time I was sliding, I couldn’t control and it was locked in position.

“On my fast lap, I was talking with my engineer, making sure it was safe to drive, because when you’re doing 230 miles an hour down the straight and you think maybe the wheel might fall off or something might happen, it’s a bit concerning, and it doesn’t give you the most amount of confidence to send it around the corner. So as I said, I am disappointed. We looked quick, it just didn’t come together, but P4 is not a bad place.”

Unfortunately for Mercedes, Russell was their only representative in Q3 as Kimi Antonelli suffered an early exit from qualifying. But they were spared a further blow when the stewards decided to take no further action against the team after FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer had reported them.