‘We’ve got a shot’ – Russell says Mercedes have pace for Sprint win in China as he predicts ‘interesting race’ to come

Mercedes driver George Russell described fifth position as “not a bad place to start” for Saturday’s 100-kilometre dash in China after his “strange” Sprint Qualifying experience.

Russell had an up-and-down session at the Shanghai International Circuit, highlighted when he went from a low-key first SQ2 run – radioing that “the tyres just aren’t working” – to second on the timesheets.

READ MORE: Hamilton charges to pole over Verstappen and Piastri during Sprint Qualifying thriller in China

In the decisive SQ3 shootout, Russell ultimately came away with P5, behind the two Ferraris, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – making the most of Lando Norris’ mistakes to gain a spot.

“To be honest, I’m pretty happy with the lap in SQ3,” said Russell after qualifying, adding his congratulations to former team mate Lewis Hamilton, who took pole position with new squad Ferrari.

“I think P5 was where we were [in terms of performance] today. It was strange in SQ2, at one moment I was outside the top 10, the next I jumped up to P2. It didn’t feel any different, to be honest.

“We always know it’s a bit tricky with the tyres. With the Sprint race you’ve got so few laps, you’ve got to really nail it. Today we did okay, and P5’s not a bad place to start.”

READ MORE: Hamilton left ‘gobsmacked’ after ‘incredible’ Sprint Qualifying pole in China

Asked about his potential in the Sprint, and the main Qualifying session that will follow, Russell added: “I think it can just go any way between the top couple of teams.

“It was a bit of a surprise with McLaren, because they were flying in practice, flying in SQ1 and SQ2, and then at the end Lewis and Max did a good job.

“We were sort of right behind them as well, but I think we’ve got a shot in the Sprint – I think that could be quite an interesting race.”

On the other side of the Mercedes garage, Kimi Antonelli wound up seventh, around half a second slower than Russell after facing a challenge when the medium tyres used in SQ1 and SQ2 became softs for SQ3.

READ MORE: ‘It’s a motivation boost’ – Verstappen admits surprise over P2 result in China Sprint Qualifying

“I mean, it was looking good,” said Antonelli, who dropped out at the Q1 stage on his debut in Australia last weekend. “SQ2 was pretty tight and I was feeling good with the car.

“But on the soft I really struggled on that first lap, especially I felt the grip was very poor. I think warm-up was not optimal on my side and when I started the lap the tyres were too cold. I really struggled during the whole lap, to be honest, to extract grip.

“Still, it’s a better qualifying than Melbourne, for sure, and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”