George Russell carried the baton for Mercedes in qualifying as Lewis Hamilton made two costly errors and finished in P10. However, the seven-time world champion could take a leaf out of his team-mate’s book and deploy a pre-session power nap.
Russell claimed his third pole position of the season on Saturday, seeing off the threat of Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to secure the P1 grid slot for Sunday’s Grand Prix. He now has the chance to fight for a second win in 2024, which would bring him onto level terms with Hamilton.
When asked what contributed to his stellar performance, the 26-year-old revealed a neat trick that he uses to prepare for qualifying. “I took a nap before qualifying,” Russell explained. “Woke up a little bit drowsy and then made sure I was in peak condition come the end of qualifying.
“It’s really difficult, but we’re all in the same boat”. He went on to add: “I’d normally try and probably sort of meditate as opposed to sleep, just sort of close my eyes and listen to, I don’t know, waves crashing against the sea or breathing exercises.
“I sort of do like box breathing and works for me. It sort of relaxes my mind and takes a bit of pressure off. But yeah, today got probably 45 minutes. It’s just adapting every single weekend.
“When people ask me, like, what’s your race weekend routine, the routine changes every single weekend, depending on how you slept the night before, the circumstances you find yourself in. And obviously, here, it’s so challenging for everyone being so offset, working the night shift effectively. You know, for me, just sleeping when I can is working for me.”
Russell now has a golden chance to avenge the frustrations of Belgium and Brazil this season. At Spa-Francorchamps, he went off strategy and executed his race to perfection to beat Hamilton to the line, but a post-race fuel inspection saw him disqualified.
Then, in Brazil, he snatched the lead away from polesitter Lando Norris and led for nearly half of the race before an unfortunately timed red flag swung the pendulum the way of Max Verstappen and the two Alpine drivers.
Russell will also be desperate to finish ahead of Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship standings as the pair round off their final season as team-mates. The former currently has a two-point advantage and with the seven-time world champion starting from P10 on Sunday, this is a chance to stretch that lead.
