‘I can confirm the old car is not bad!’ – Russell reacts to P2 in Singapore Sprint Qualifying with downgraded Mercedes

George Russell bounced back from the disappointment of his late-race retirement at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia with a strong run to second place during Sprint Qualifying in Singapore, as he reverted to an older-specification car.

After struggling to assess the upgrades they introduced at Sepang, Mercedes have split their approach for the Marina Bay weekend, with Russell going back to the package he drove to pole position and victory in Baku, and team mate Kimi Antonelli keeping the new parts.

That appeared to work in Russell’s favour on Friday, as the Briton charged his way to P2 on the grid for the Sprint – behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – while the Italian wound up seventh, more than half a second adrift.

Asked about how his Sprint Qualifying session came together, Russell reflected: “I think we’ve seemed competitive all day, to be honest, from the first laps in FP1 – we obviously topped the timesheets there.

“We knew Max was fast, and he went on a slightly different strategy to us in Q3, just doing the one lap. Who knows what was best, but I’m pretty satisfied with the P2.”

As for Mercedes’ split car specifications, and whether any more answers are emerging, he added: “Well, I can definitely confirm the old one is not bad!

“Let’s see what tomorrow brings with Kimi on the upgrade. As a team, there’s still nothing telling us that it isn’t working, but it’s a sport driven by the stopwatch, and the stopwatch has not been great for the upgrade yet.”

Russell, who will take an engine-related grid drop for Sunday’s Grand Prix, then offered a few words on the Sprint race, and if the start will be his best chance of overhauling Verstappen – should the Dutchman keep P1 on the grid amid an investigation for allegedly overtaking Lewis Hamilton under yellow flags in SQ1.

“It’s going to be very challenging,” said Russell. “The grip left to right [on the grid] here is a big difference. The drivers on the pole side last year had a big advantage, so it’s probably going to be trying to maintain P2.

“I know Max is under investigation for the yellows, so let’s see.”