
George Russell goes red with embarrassment after awkward comment to female journalist
George Russell was in a playful mood after securing P3 in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but was told to 'have some decorum' by Natalie Pinkham after an awkward interview
Mercedes star George Russell couldn't help but chuckle during his Sky Sports post-qualifying chat at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, thanks to a humorous slip of the tongue discussing tyre strategy.
The 27-year-old driver had just scored a P3 start on the grid at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, coming in right behind the pole position nabbed by Max Verstappen and eventual winner Oscar Piastri in P2.
Piastri was a hair's breadth away from the top spot, missing it by only a tenth of a second. Meanwhile, Lando Norris took P10 after a crash curtailed his first Q3 attempt.
As Russell touched on the potential tyre choices for the opposition, he amusingly said Norris would "put the hard on" straight out of the gates, reports the Express.
The Brit quickly clocked the double entendre, pausing with an amused grin before playfully calling out a crew member off-camera for smiling and unwittingly disrupting his flow.
Handing back to Natalie Pinkham, the Sky Sports F1 presenter couldn't resist teasing Russell, advising him light-heartedly to "have some decorum."
Overall, Russell was uncertain about his P3 starting grid position, shining some light on how small the margins for error are during qualifying sessions.
"I'm a little bit mixed feelings, to be honest, because I went quite conservative on my out-lap with my tyres," explained Mercedes lead Russell.
"Because it was my one and only lap and I had no banker on the board, I just felt that if I made a small mistake at Turn One or a lock-up, I'd have been down in P10.
"And usually, your last lap in Q3, you're fully, fully sending it. I thought I needed to go a bit hotter with my tyres, just to ensure there's no mistakes at Turn One, and it cost me in the last sector.
"I lost a tenth and a half from myself on the last sector. The lap otherwise was great. It's thrilling around here, and you're so close to a mistake at any point. But P3 is probably more than we could have hoped for."
McLaren's Piastri continued his dominant start to the Formula 1 season with another win at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with pole-sitter Verstappen having to settle for P2 on the back of a key penalty.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc completed the podium in third, whilst Norris lost ground at the Drivers' Championship table's summit as he could only muster P4 - a valiant effort from a P10 start.
Russell, on the other hand, surrendered his second-row beginnings to only land in P5, with young team-mate Kimi Antonelli coming in just behind him, but ahead of ex-Mercedes man and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in P7.
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Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Lando Norris swatted away Nico Rosberg's 'mentality' comments that went down like a lead balloon at McLaren but the Sky pundit is correct, writes JONATHAN McEVOY - and failure to beat Oscar Piastri this year may threaten to undermine his career
Outside, sun shines on the rowing lake from the 1976 Olympic Games that condemned Montreal to penury. It took a broken city 30 years to pay off the wastefulness of corruption, a billion-pound bill coming in 13 times over budget. Inside, Lando Norris is grappling with a rising deficit to his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, 10 points with nine rounds gone and 14 remaining, accumulated by the Australian's five wins to his two. Heading into the Canadian Grand Prix – and speaking before he qualified a distant seventh on Saturday – he is guarded and, deep down, would rather be undisturbed as he watches the US Open golf on his phone. He likes golf but the phone serves a second usefulness, as a device of self-protection. It is deployed so he can occasionally look at it and shrug as if distractedly with (real) boredom and (profound) irritation at what he considers the most tedious question of all time: essentially, whether he possesses the mental fortitude to convert his brilliant talent into the hard currency of world champion status. The query recurs as he honours a long-observed courtesy of speaking to the travelling pack of British daily newspaper reporters. Small and a young 25, it is difficult at moments not to feel for him and his predicament. But these are the standards by which elite sportsmen are judged, whether they like it or not. And the only credible answer they produce comes down to results, and how they obtain them. If Norris were to beat Piastri, and Max Verstappen, who is 49 points off the leader, he would be transported to a new level of respect. If he fails, it would threaten not only to harm his psychology but undermine his career. 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They privately suggested that the German was trying to 'make a name for himself' by saying things more outlandish than he really believed. No, he was just offering an honest opinion, and the TV coverage was all the richer for it. He is back with Sky in Montreal this weekend. Asked about Roberg's views, Norris said, slightly unconvincingly: 'I don't know what he said. I mean, I do all of those things (working on his mindset). He doesn't know what I do. I do stuff to make me better.' He declined to elaborate on what precisely his routine encompassed. Again, on the question of pressure, Norris spoke of trying to cope in the Formula One limelight, in contrast to the lower series where he made his name in relative tranquility. He said: 'I try not to think about it (F1's bright lights). Part of me in the early part of my career was thinking about it too much because it was a cool situation to be in, but you shouldn't let it change anything. 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Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
George Russell sees off Max Verstappen to take brilliant pole at Canadian GP
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Verstappen lashes out at driving criticism as George Russell seals Canada pole
A furious Max Verstappen lashed out at criticism of his driving as 'childish, annoying and p****** him off' after his nemesis George Russell beat him to pole position for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix. Russell snatched top spot with a brilliant final lap at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to leave Verstappen trailing by 0.160 seconds, with McLaren pair Oscar Piastri third and Lando Norris a disappointing seventh. It means Mercedes' Russell and defending champion Verstappen will line up on the front row together, a fortnight after their collision in Spain. Red Bull driver Verstappen accelerated into Russell and was demoted from fifth to 10th by the stewards at the Circuit de Barcelona. He was also hit with three penalty points which leaves him one point away from a race ban. Moments after he landed his second pole in as many years in Montreal, Russell said jovially of his rivalry with Verstappen: 'We are mates so we are all good. I've got a few more points on my licence to play with, so let's see.' But when the subject arose in the post-qualifying press conference, Verstappen did not see the funny side. 'I don't need to hear it again,' he said. 'It is really p****** me off. You speaking about it on Thursday, it is such a waste of time. It is very childish. 'I don't want to say too much because it is really annoying this world that we live in.' Russell insisted earlier this week that Verstappen's attempts to 'scare' him in Barcelona did not work and he believes a ban for the Dutch driver – if he reaches 12 points – would be justified. On Saturday, Russell continued: 'I don't think any driver goes out there looking to crash into somebody and get penalty points on their licence. Max is one of the best and there is no reason for him to race any differently. 'But I am not sitting here thinking he will give me more room but probably the opposite to prove a point so I will keep an eye on that. We are here to win and we will not do something which jeopardises the race.' Norris is 10 points behind Piastri and his championship challenge has been derailed by errors in qualifying. Here, he made another two when it came to the crunch – aborting the final right-left chicane on his first run in Q3 and then grazing the wall on the exit of Turn 7 with his last effort to leave him seven tenths off the pole pace and four places and half-a-second behind Piastri in the other McLaren. 'It is a very easy track to push one per cent too much and pay the price – and that's what happened today,' said Norris. 'Mistakes have cost me. A podium will be tough because we don't have the pace we have had of the past few races. I am not as confident as in other places but I am confident we can go forward but it will be a struggle.' Kimi Antonelli will line up from fourth for Mercedes, one place ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton. Charles Leclerc made an error on his last lap and is eighth on the grid.