George Russell: It was a wonderful day!
George Russell will start the Australian Grand Prix from pole – the Mercedes driver has won the qualifying session for the eighth time in his career. Kimi Antonelli showed the second-best result, trailing his teammate by about three-tenths – it seems that the predictions about Mercedes' advantage at this stage of the season are coming true.
George Russell (1st): "Great day! We knew that the W17 has a lot of potential, but until the first Saturday of the season, you can't be sure of anything, but today the car was really fast.
As the asphalt temperature dropped, such conditions usually favor us. Also, I'm very happy that Kimi made it to the front row too, as the team had to work hard to prepare his car (after the crash in the third practice). Everyone in the garage worked incredibly well.
It's not easy to drive, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race; it's quite likely that there will be very interesting battles on the track. I hope we can perform well in the Australian Grand Prix.
But with these new cars, it's become much more difficult to carry out many of the simplest procedures, like starts or pit stops. Before the final qualifying session, I told the team in the garage: 'Let's just have a good session, because no one knows what will happen tomorrow.'
Overall, it was a wonderful day, and we are starting from the best position."
Kimi Antonelli (2nd): "The day was full of stress. In the third practice, I crashed into the barriers, but our mechanics showed true heroism today, repaired the car, and I got back on track. We didn't even have time to set it up and just went out, and still managed to make it to the front row. I'm very pleased with the result!
It wasn't easy; I had to put in maximum effort, but next time I need to try to avoid mistakes, as the crash certainly affected our qualifying. But we'll be on the starting grid for the race tomorrow, so now we need to focus on preparation, and I believe we can fight for a good result."
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