George Russell: Mercedes' third-row lockout for Abu Dhabi GP 'seems fair' considering car performance

George Russell is not too disappointed with Mercedes' third-row start in the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP, as it was as per the team's expectations.

The winner of the previous race in Brazil reckons Mercedes' qualifying result was expected, as they did go for a higher downforce setup. He said:

"We hoped for better lap times during qualifying but should be in a stronger position during the race tomorrow, as our long run pace looked competitive from what we've seen so far. The grid position seems fair when you look at our current car performance at a circuit like Abu Dhabi, but following the results in Brazil, we were probably hoping for a little bit more."

He added that while Red Bull could be out of bounds, Mercedes could expect to compete with Ferrari. Russell said:

"We would have liked to be a little bit closer to the front but should be in a better place for the race. Tomorrow will be interesting, as there are lots of different strategy options. I expect Red Bull to be out of reach, but I hope we can chase Ferrari. Let's see what tomorrow brings - we will fight as hard as we can all the way to the finish line."

George Russell is third in the standings and will look to secure that position this weekend. He holds a 25-point lead over his compatriot Lewis Hamilton, his Mercedes teammate, a bragging right not expected him to have this season.

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We expected to struggle here - George Russell's teammate

George Russell's teammate Lewis Hamilton has said that he's surprised with Mercedes' third row lockout. The seven-time world champion hopes to progress through the field in the race, though, saying:

"We came here expecting this to be a difficult one for us, but we didn't expect a gap of eight tenths to pole position. We were losing six tenths today on the straights to the top cars. I gave it everything, so it's a bit of a surprising result and just being so far behind Red Bull and Ferrari."

He added:

"Hopefully our race pace tomorrow will be better than our qualifying pace today. There's also some bouncing at this track, which adds to our lack of performance and issues with temperature splits on the brakes, which we've experienced throughout the whole season. The whole team is working hard, and they're doing an incredible job to fix these issues, especially also for next year. I'm looking to tomorrow and the final race of the season!"

Hamilton couldn't continue his run of securing a pole position in every season he has raced. He will hope for a strong finish to the season even though it appears George Russell could outscore him.