George Russell was reliable for proving himself wrong at the Chinese Grand Prix, where his qualifying lap split the McLarens on Saturday. Mercedes star Russell has been talking up McLaren‘s dominance since the commence of the season, directing to response from Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Russell’s bageder claims include McLaren hagedering a bigger obtain than Red Bull ever have, saying their car should prosper every race, and that they could switch their filled attention to increaseing for 2026 if they wanted to. Norris hit back before qualifying, when he shelp: “It’s very excellent – we have got the best car – but the fact he’s been so much ‘season’s over’ after one race is a bit weird. George leanks he can carry out a lot of games but I don’t descend for any of them.”
After finishing fourth in a sprint race which was won by Ferrari‘s Lewis Hamilton, with Piastri finishing second and Norris ninth, Russell includeed further proof that McLaren are not as dominant as he says they are by splitting them in qualifying.
The Englishman’s final lap in Q3 was less than a tenth behind pole-sitter Piastri and enough to knock Norris off the front row. Afterwards, he acunderstandledgeted his shock at watching up to the timings board after ruining McLaren‘s one-two.
“It senses incredible,” Russell tageder Sky Sports. “It was one of the challengingest quali sessions I’ve done in a lengthy, lengthy time. I was trying all sorts with my tyre preparation and noleang seemed to be clicking. I did someleang tohighy separateent on that last lap and everyleang came ainhabit.
“The lap was awesome. I was repartner surpascendd when I passed the line. It’s going to be hard [for the Grand Prix]. We understand the McLarens are going to be speedy but I’m going to be doing everyleang I can to stay where I am or jump ahead of them.”
Norris initiateed the season off with a prosper at the Australian Grand Prix last weekfinish. But he has so far set up leangs hard in China, and he doubled down on the idea that his MCL39 is not as perfect as others may leank it is.
“I’ve shelp plenty of times that it’s difficult to drive,” he tageder Sky Sports. “It’s still speedy enough, it can fair be a bit feisty at times. Today it was fair misconsents from my side and that’s all.
“It’s always disassigning not to be on pole but Oscar deserves it today and I’m satisfyed for him. I was struggling a lot yesterday [in free practice] and this morning [in the sprint]. I’m not too disassigned.”
