George Russell surprised by McLaren and Ferrari gains after Mercedes lose advantage

George Russell was surprised by the big gains made by McLaren and Ferrari as Mercedes’ run of pole positions came to an end in Friday’s Sprint quali with Lando Norris P1.

McLaren and Ferrari arrived at the Miami Autodrome with a host of upgrades for their cars, McLaren bringing seven and Ferrari a whopping 11.

George Russell reacts to McLaren and Ferrari gains in Miami

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Mercedes had all of two updates, with changes to the tailpipe and the front corner of the W17.

It was evident from practice that Mercedes was not going to have it all its own way this weekend as Kimi Antonelli was the best-placed Mercedes driver in fifth place, 0.769s slower than the pace-setter Charles Leclerc.

The championship leader improved his position in Sprint quali, but fell two tenths short of pole-sitter Lando Norris. As for Russell, he remained P6 in the pecking order.

The Briton qualified behind both McLaren drivers as well as Leclerc and Max Verstappen.

“I mean, pretty surprised at how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari have made, so that’s pretty damn impressive,” he said.

“We knew they’d probably close the gap but, you know, they’ve been quicker than us.

“My side, I have been struggling today. Miami’s not a track that I love, to be honest, especially in these hotter conditions.

“But, you know, it’s only Sprint qualifying, so let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

Russell revealed that he struggled on Friday to get the balance of his car into the right operating window, which led to his tyres overheating.

“I was just overheating my tyres a lot in that twisty section in the middle. I was struggling to get the right balance with the car,” he said. “So, yeah, not much more to say than that, really.

“As I said, just being quite surprised by the progress of the others. But another day tomorrow.”

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As for pole-sitter Norris, the reigning world champion reported that McLaren’s upgrades, which included a new floor and revised sidepod inlets, had improved the car’s rear grip.

“It was great,” he said. “Perfect result for us, nice way to reward the team.

“We got a lot of new upgrades on the car, so it’s nice to feel some grip again, and nice to reward the guys and the girls that have put a lot of work into this.”

Asked if McLaren’s improvement was track-specific, he replied: “I mean, it’s tough to know, every track’s different, right?

“We’ve known that this track has always been good to us, but we knew that what we were bringing was going to hopefully do a good step, and it has, so it’s nice that our estimations are proved correct, and the team deserved that, they put a lot of work into all of these things.

“Since the first lap today, I felt comfortable, and I was like, ‘oh, I’ve got a bit of rear grip!'”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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