George Russell believes traffic at the start of his final flying lap could have cost him a shot at pole position at the 2025 F1 Imola GP, after an inspired tyre strategy saw him qualify third behind Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen.
Russell opted for the Medium compound tyre on his last Q3 run. A bold move that raised eyebrows in the paddock, given the soft C6 was expected to be the qualifying tyre. However, Mercedes had always planned the switch, trusting the tyres’ behaviour in race simulations.
“No, that was always a plan from before the session,” Russell confirmed in the post-Qualifying conference. “I felt quite strong on that tyre yesterday and today. It was a bit of a risk because nine times out of ten, that will be the start tyre or we will use that tyre at some point in the race.
“So, in the unlikely event of a puncture or a flat spot, you’re pretty destroyed because then you’d have to use a C6 soft tyre in the race. It didn’t come without any risk, but it was a risk worth taking. We wanted to put it all on the table, and I’m pretty happy with P3.”
George Russell hopes to take the fight to McLaren
The risk almost paid off. Russell’s lap put him within 0.137s of Verstappen and just two tenths of pole sitter Piastri, who continued McLaren’s recent upward trajectory.
“We were going for it. We thought maybe the Medium tyre would be a fast one, and it turned out to be a good choice,” Russell said. “Of course, a small compromise now for tomorrow, but it was worth it to be back in the top three. Really happy with the performance.
“Very close to Oscar, which again, is always a surprise when you’re so close to the McLaren because they’re so good at the moment.”
Near-misses at F1 Imola GP qualifying
Still, George Russell believes pole wasn’t entirely out of reach, if not for a critical moment of traffic at the end of the lap.
I mean, it was very challenging because opening the lap, we almost missed the flag. I was in first gear starting my lap, I lost a tenth down the straight because I was so close to Sainz. But, you know, nevertheless, really happy with P3.
“I think we could not have really achieved much more today, but ultimately we need to focus on tomorrow and try and get back on the podium.”
Earlier in Q3, Russell had posted a lap on the soft compound that would’ve also landed him in the mix, but a small error cost him.
“I was P4 on the Soft tyre, only half a tenth behind Lando, and I had a mistake on that lap. Somehow, I accidentally short shifted coming out of Turn 12, and it just bogged down into fifth gear, and I lost about a tenth. “
George Russell takes notes for F1 Imola GP
With Mercedes showing signs of life after a challenging start to the season, Russell says they must now shift focus to maximising Sunday’s race.
“It’s been a bit of a challenging weekend, to be honest. I was very surprised how close we were in qualifying.
“When you find that sweet spot, there’s a lot of lap time. And both of my laps in Q3 felt very strong,” he admitted. “I found that sweet spot with the tyre and found about four tenths compared to every other lap I did this weekend.
“So I was pretty happy, but it’ll be challenging for all of us to fight with Oscar tomorrow, and we’ll do our best to hold off Lando.”
Russell chimes in on C6 conversation
As for Pirrelli’s experimental C6 compound, Russell echoed a concern many drivers voiced.
“ I do feel the concept of going softer to create more variety in the race is the right idea,” he said. “But we sort of preempted this — that there will be many tracks where the C5 is better than the C6. So, then it begs the question: do you want to go back to the alternative tyre allocation where you’ve got to do a Hard, Medium, Soft in qualifying?
And then you have more sensible tyres during practice sessions — then we can do more laps, the fans can watch us drive more.
I feel that would be a sensible midpoint — sort of mandating the Hard, Medium, Soft for the three sessions.
Otherwise, based on today, next time we go to a relatively medium-high speed circuit with a C6, everyone will be qualifying on a C5, and it shouldn’t be like that.
