Russell delighted with front row start: "I'm really pleased!"

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19:27, 05 Dec 2020

George Russell was understandably pleased to be so close to Valtteri Bottas in qualifying for the Sakhir Grand Prix, finishing P2, just 0.026 seconds behind his teammate on his debut race for Mercedes. The Brit did extremely well to outqualify the impressive Max Verstappen and secure a maiden front row start.

"I tried a lot of things in FP3 and it didn't work so I'm really pleased," Russell told Sky Sports. "Pretty much got it all together on the final lap. Beaten by 26 miliseconds but if you told me last week that I would go P2 last week. I would take it. I'm pleased! Let's see what we can do tomorrow.

"I have no-one infront of me which I haven't experienced in a long time. Qualifying is balls out and see what you can do whereas the race is about finesse but we will see what we can do."

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Kimi Antonelli Kimi Antonelli	MercedesMER	302
2	George Russell George Russell	MercedesMER	236
3	Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton	FerrariFER	199
4	Lando Norris Lando Norris	McLarenMCL	186
5	Charles Leclerc Charles Leclerc	FerrariFER	179
6	Max Verstappen Max Verstappen	Red Bull RacingRBR	163
7	Oscar Piastri Oscar Piastri	McLarenMCL	120
8	Isack Hadjar Isack Hadjar	Red Bull RacingRBR	86
9	Liam Lawson Liam Lawson	Racing BullsRCB	59
10	Pierre Gasly Pierre Gasly	AlpineALP	41
11	Arvid Lindblad Arvid Lindblad	Racing BullsRCB	37
12	Franco Colapinto Franco Colapinto	AlpineALP	27
13	Oliver Bearman Oliver Bearman	HaasHAA	20
14	Gabriel Bortoleto Gabriel Bortoleto	AudiAUD	10
15	Nico Hulkenberg Nico Hulkenberg	AudiAUD	7
16	Esteban Ocon Esteban Ocon	HaasHAA	7
17	Carlos Sainz Carlos Sainz	WilliamsWIL	7
18	Alexander Albon Alexander Albon	WilliamsWIL	5
19	Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso	Aston MartinAST	3
20	Yuki Tsunoda Yuki Tsunoda	Racing BullsRCB	1
21	Lance Stroll Lance Stroll	Aston MartinAST	0
22	Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Bottas	CadillacCAD	0
23	Sergio Perez Sergio Perez	CadillacCAD	0

Russell delighted with front row start: "I'm really pleased!"

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