George Russell admits he was “expecting a crash” with Max Verstappen at the start of the Qatar GP given how motivated the Dutchman was after losing pole to a grid penalty.
In the end Russell didn’t have a good getaway, and Verstappen was able to get past the Mercedes driver and claim the lead, with Lando Norris also following him through.
Russell then had a slow first pit stop, and he subsequently picked up a five-second penalty for failing to maintain his distance behind the safety car.
However he still managed to salvage fourth place on a day when many others also had issues.
Russell admitted that he was confused by a “strange” change in form over the course of the weekend.
“I think P4 is probably a flattering result considering how the race went,” he said when asked by AutoRacer.it about the result. “Funny how this sport changes. Everything was great on Friday, Saturday was a great day, and then we had no pace today.
“At best, we were two or three tenths behind Max and Lando. The start was bad, had a slow pit stop, a penalty, I don’t even know what for, to be honest. So, yeah, it’s strange.”
Russell knew that Verstappen would be on a mission at the start after being so frustrated by his one-place penalty for driving excessively slowly.
“Yeah, to be honest, I was expecting a crash, but ultimately we made it easy for him, because both Lewis and I made terrible starts,” he said.
“So it was a pretty simple overtake for him, which was a bit frustrating for us. But it’s strange how when things are working and the car is quick, everything seems just to work so well, and when the car is off the pace a bit, everything just seems to go wrong. And today was a great example of that.”
He added: “We know Max is a fighter and is aggressive. I expect no difference. I really wanted to go out there and fight with him today, like we could have done in the sprint.
“But yesterday in the sprint, he was probably two or three-tenths behind us. Today, we were two or three tenths behind him.
“And it just goes to show what a night can do in this sport. It’s always on a knife’s edge. It’s a shame we didn’t have the pace when it mattered.”
