31/08/2025 04:30
George Russell has conceded he got stuck "down the spiral" of the
windy conditions at Zandvoort during qualifying for the Dutch Grand
Prix. The Mercedes driver explained that one subsequent slide over
a lap can cause the tyres to overheat, ruining the attempt,
something he said happened on both his Q3 efforts. It left him
fifth-fastest, despite third on the grid being more than
achievable, with Max Verstappen slightly more than three-tenths
quicker. Despite his disappointment, the four-time grand prix
winner called his starting position a "fair result", all things
considered. "Yeah, a little bit disappointed," he told media,
including RacingNews365. " But it's a very challenging circuit,
with these kinds of conditions. "If you get the lap together, you
can probably find four-tenths, just because it's so windy, one
slide, the tyres overheat, and then it's down the spiral. "And
unfortunately, that happened to me both laps in Q3. Could have
easily gone the other way, but I didn't feel great out there, so P5
is a fair result." 'Tough' threat facing Russell The surprise of
the session came from Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar, who put in
a sublime effort to stick his VCARB 02 between Russell and
Verstappen in third. However, the 27-year-old expects the normal
order to resume in the race. However, he did acknowledge the
looming difficulties if he cannot quickly dispatch the Frenchman.
"I hope... I expect the normal running order to fall out a little
bit, but if I don't manage to get past him [Hadjar] at the start,
it will probably be a tough first stint," Russell said. Choosing to
keep his cards close to his chest on potential strategy options,
the British driver highlighted that much of the field appears to be
leaning toward a one-stop, having kept a fresh set of medium and
hard Pirellis, but did not rule out stopping twice. "Well, a lot of
people committed just to one medium, one hard, so that obviously
shows what people will be attempting to achieve," he explained.
"The soft doesn't look out of the question as a race tyre. But of
course, you wouldn't choose to be running the soft. "So yeah, the
sort of strategy, at least, what people will attempt, was already
quite clear before the session."
