Russell also won first free practice, so he is continuing his stint at the top of the grid as he also won the Australian GP last weekend. “The car’s been feeling amazing, we knew after Melbourne we had a really good car, the engine’s performing really well, and today was a real joy to drive, so I’m happy. I’m intrigued to know what the lap times are compared to last year, because it felt really quick and that was pretty cool, very different to Melbourne.” he commented right after the session, quoted by the official F1 website.

While Mercedes managed to keep their strong pace from Australia, their biggest rivals in last race, Ferrari, couldn’t deliver result that would challenge Mercedes again. Hamilton qualified forth and Leclerc sixth. In Australia, Russell and Leclerc battled the most in first few laps as Russell didn’t have a good start. “Since Melbourne, everything we’ve been working on is just trying to get off the line better, what we can do there. I think we’ve found some improvements. Melbourne was obviously slightly dicier in the opening laps than we would have liked, but I guess we’ll find out in the morning.” Russell said.

The pole sitter was 0.289 seconds faster than his teammate Kimi Antonelli who finished sprint qualifying second. He spoke positively about the feeling in the car during sprint qualifying, while also admitting that his final lap could have been better: “The pace is very strong. I just didn’t put the lap together at the end on the softs. I’m feeling good in the car. It’s more about details, trying to put it all together, but tomorrow we’ll try to have a good start, and then try to have a good Quali.” Antonelli also congratulated Russell and added that it is a play for tomorrow.

Russell also thanked for the support showed by local fans: “It’s been really surreal seeing so many blue caps and so much support in the grandstands.” Adding that he is trying to embrace their culture with his special helmets over the last couple of years hoping that it is being appreciated.