George Russell second on the grid in Japan after "a really bizarre session"

The weeks are starting to blur together for George Russell. Since his brilliant weekend in Australia, where he dominated from start to finish with pole position and victory, the Briton hasn't been quite as impressive. While he was expected to launch a winning streak, Russell has fallen victim to reliability issues, which had previously spared him. Mercedes BenzDuring qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, the King's Lynn native suffered several successive problems with his W17, forcing him to complete his Q3 session on a single flying lap, without ideal tire preparation. Second behind Antonelli, Russell appeared to have maximized his result after a difficult start to the session.

In Japan two weeks later, history repeated itself: the Italian repeated his feat by once again securing pole position, while George Russell was never able to challenge. The number 63 driver struggled immensely with his Mercedes, which proved very unstable in certain sections of the circuit, particularly the second sector featuring the two Degner corners and the Spoon corner. These were difficulties that Antonelli did not encounter in his car and which allowed the young Italian to gain almost three tenths of a second on his garage neighbor.

"Kimi did a very good job once again," George Russell acknowledges, fair play“It was a really strange session. We were fast all weekend and, after the final practice session, we made a few adjustments. But in qualifying, we were nowhere. We need to understand why, because we're ultimately lucky to have finished second. It's the second time in a row that things haven't gone our way.”

All is not lost for George Russell, who can believe in his chances of victory. At stake is the lead in the world championship, currently held by Russell, but which could change sides of the garage depending on the result of the Japanese Grand Prix.

The third round of the season will be available to follow from 7 a.m. on Sunday, with live text commentary on AUTOhebdo.fr.

ALSO READ > Kimi Antonelli secures his second consecutive pole position: "An exceptional feeling"