George Russell wants “proper race” in Qatar as he fires team orders dig at McLaren

Posted by Admin November 30, 2024 World

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George Russell wants a “proper race” at the F1 Qatar Grand Prix after McLaren’s teamwork between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri resulted in an “infuriating” sprint event.

Russell finished behind the two McLarens in the shorter 19-lap sprint race at the Lusail International Circuit.

The Mercedes driver was frustrated by the tactics deployed by McLaren, with Norris backing off on purpose to give teammate Piastri DRS which allowed him to fend off Russell.

Russell said after the sprint: “I understand why they did that but when you’re out here and fighting and you want to put a race on for the fans, it was just pretty infuriating.”

Fast forward to qualifying, Russell put his Mercedes on the front row of the grid after he was pipped to pole by four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen.

More importantly, Russell beat the two McLarens in qualifying as he goes in search of back-to-back victories.

Reflecting on his P2 qualifying position, Russell couldn’t resist a little dig towards McLaren after how they handled the sprint race.

“Just excited,” he said. “Hopefully we can have a proper race rather than this team orders stuff. It’s going to be a good race. I think we’ll all be going for it. It’s actually great that Max is in the mix as well.

“I was really surprised by their turnaround because they looked really off the pace yesterday, off the pace this morning, and obviously they were both in Q3 and Max in pole, so I think we’ve got a good race on our hands.”