P1racenews AI automatic summary:
George Russell qualified fourth fastest, in a dead heat with Max Verstappen in third for the Spanish Grand Prix.
George Russell felt Mercedes could have taken more risks during Spanish Grand Prix qualifying, as he explained his “too conservative” radio call. Russell will start fourth in Barcelona, having set the exact same lap-time as Max Verstappen on a 1:11.848s, but as the world champion set the time first, he will start ahead of the Mercedes. They were both 0.302s slower than pole-sitter Oscar Piastri, with Russell radioing the team to say he felt they had lost two-tenths of a second for being too conservative and not doing “what was discussed.” The discussion revolved around using Kimi Antonelli for a tow on Russell’s first Q3 lap, given the Italian only had one new set of soft tyres available. Russell expressed that they could have been more aggressive with the strategy to get a slipstream into Turn 1, especially due to Kimi’s tire situation, to aim for a big result. Despite the strategic considerations, Russell managed to reach Q3 only on two sets of tires, keeping a new soft tire for the race, which he sees as a positive but remains realistic about the challenges ahead.
