Mercedes' performance in Singapore is 'in line with what we expected' - George Russell

George Russell has said that Mercedes' uptick in performance in Singapore was expected.

The Mercedes driver, though, did not have a great race in Singapore, as he had multiple crashes and could not make the most of the car's competitiveness. His teammate Lewis Hamilton finished ninth.

When asked whether it was a surprise to see Mercedes being so competitive in Singapore, Russell said:

"To be honest, not really, it’s sort of in line with what we expected. I think these races, especially post-summer break, we're getting a really clear trend of where our car is working well and where it's not working, and it’s given us a really sort of clear development direction to go down."

He added:

"I think it is a shame for us as a team to have not capitalised on that race weekend. I think we all felt that. But for sure, there's still a lot of positive signs to take away, especially that we really struggled on three circuits at the start of the year, and arguably that's probably the fastest race weekend we had last week."

Reflecting on his own race, Russell admitted that some of the decisions he made during the race were too risky and could have been avoided. He said:

"Yeah, definitely difficult. I think it was never going to be straightforward starting from the back in those conditions. You know, we made some bold decisions. Obviously, everything's easy in hindsight, and perhaps a little bit too risky, all in all. But yeah, we knew it wasn't going to be straightforward. And that's what happens when you have a bad qualifying on a circuit like that."

George Russell (203) is fourth in the standings ahead of the Japanese GP in Suzuka, while Hamilton (170) is sixth.

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Suzuka is one of top 5 tracks for every F1 driver - George Russell

Talking about his experience of racing in Suzuka, George Russell said that the track is one of the top five tracks for every driver on the grid.

When asked what was he most looking forward to at the race today (October 9), he said:

"I think all of it, to be honest. I think obviously, the first sector with the ‘Esses’ and that flow of corners. It is truly iconic. And it's definitely, you know, a top-five circuit for probably all of us. So it's going to be, you know, a fun Saturday I think in qualifying. We'll see what the weather's like on Sunday. Obviously, it was a unique race when we were here in 2019 because we had the typhoon on Saturday. So let's see if we have a bit more of a normal weekend."

George Russell trails Red Bull's Sergio Perez (235) by over 30 points.